422: Four Generals

Four Generals

Two players were fishing near the shore of the Southern Kingdom. They were on a rowboat a couple of miles out at sea. The sun was burning bright and the sea barely moved. One of the two people on the small rowboat had a female avatar and wore black leather armor, completely unsuited for the heat of the Southern part of the world of conquest. Still, they were inside a game so players did not feel the heat the same way as one would in real life.

The other was a male, who wore light clothes, shorts and a matching white t-shirt as well as a fishing hat over his head that had several small fish-hooks hooked on it. His old-man avatar looked exactly like all those fishing grandpas who had nothing better do to after their retirement.

"C'mon grandpa, I thought this would be a nice to bond, but it's just boring out here," The girl complained in annoyance.

"Fishing is all about patience. You never know when you'll catch a fish. You don't even know when something bites if it's big or small until you manage to catch. Trust me, having patience will help you out greatly in life, Dana."

"Stop making up excuses for your hobby! Ugh, if you want to fish, you should have done that in real life, not in-game! Are you sure you talked to the fisherman NPC before renting the boat? It's almost been five hours now and you haven't caught a thing. All you got was that stupid old boot, otherwise not a single thing actually bit on your bait."

Before the old man could reply to his granddaughter as if on cue, his fishing rod twanged. The fishing line straightened tight, giving the old man the feeling that he had caught something big.

"See! I told you, it's all about patience! This seems to be a big one!" the old man spoke excitedly.

He pulled hard on his fishing rod but the line didn't budge or move. The old man worried that it might have been stuck on something, yet before he could cut the line abandoning his 'big catch' the line from the fishing rod tightened harder and vibrated, giving the old man the feeling of a live fish caught in his line.

"Easy on the fishing line, it'll cut this way," Dana warned.

"I know, but this thing is really huge!" the old man replied through gritted teeth.

The two of them were so preoccupied with the fish that neither one noticed the sky darkening, nor the sea becoming colder.

The water bubbled and raged, creating a small vortex that threatened to swallow the rowboat.

Yet the old man hung on the fishing rod, enough that the whole boat began dragging.

"Let it go grandpa!" the girl shouted as she suddenly felt chilly and looking up noticed the change in weather. "There's a storm coming!"

"I'm not giving this up!"

Suddenly, the sea parted, giving way to an enormous white creature that flew out of the water.

The old man needed a full second to realize that the creature was a great white shark, and the fishing line was caught in between its sharp and deadly teeth. Then it took him one more second to notice that there was a large chain strapped around its neck, linked to something that the shark was pulling from under the sea.

The shark crashed on the sea surface but didn't dive back down. Instead, it floated, with more than half of its body above water.

For the life of the old man, he couldn't understand how a shark could float above water or how it could be so white.

"T-That's a Ghost Shark!" the girl cried out after inspecting the horrifying creature.

Thanks to his granddaughter's remark, the old man finally realized why this shark was too white.

Fear gripped at his heart, fear that increased even more as two more nearly identical sharks appeared right next to that one. Both of them wrapped in chains.

Suddenly a wooden chariot rose above the sea level, where a bearded Draugr stood with what appeared to be reins made of steel chains in hand.

The Draugr tilted his head as he noticed the old man, "So you're the reason number Three went crazy. That's a pretty good bait, what's in it?" the Draugr asked.

"S-S-skeletal!" the girl spoke in stutters.

"It's tuna guts mixed with eel liver. Pretty stinky but it can make any fish fight for it… well in the real world. In-game apparently not so much." The old man replied, gone was the fear he just felt, replaced with the joy of finding someone who asked him about his favorite hobby.

"Interesting, I will try to get my hands on some more. Now if you would excuse me, could you please cut off the line? I'm kinda in a hurry here." The Draugr asked politely.

"Right," the old man drew a pocket knife and cut the line free.

"Thanks, Hya!" Dave shouted as he swung the chains causing the sharks to jerk and swim forward at Jetski speeds.

The old man was stunned for a moment looking after the vanishing figure until his granddaughter woke him up from his stupor. "Gramps, that was Mr. Skeletal! We just met the world's most famous Draugr. That's like winning the loterry and you… you just talked with him about fish bait?! I can't believe you! " the girl reprimanded.

"What else was I supposed to talk about? He asked me about it, so I answered him. Anyway, let's get back to fishing."

Yet before the man could even sit back down on his boat, the sea churned, as more sharks appeared above the water. Shark-Chariots burst out of the sea and dashed forward following behind the Draugr's path. Dozens, hundreds then thousands, as armies of the dead burst out from the sea and moved ahead like a flock of wild fish.

After the duo thought, they had seen the end of it, out came an enormous vessel that dwarfed the rowboat to the point that anyone would overlook it when next to each other.

And behind this enormous war-ship dozens more followed, though smaller in size.

"The hell is he trying to do now?" The girl asked no one in particular.

***

"WOOHOOOOO!!!!" Dave shouted as the sea sprayed around him. The Shark Chariots was definitely his favorite ride at the moment. 

"Faster!" Dave urged and the Ghost Sharks happily obliged. They traveled through the sea waters as if they were flying.

"Guys, you gotta try this, it's really fun," Dave shamelessly boasted through the party-chat.

"Yeah, gloat all you want, man! We're stuck in this damned Dungeon while you're raiding the East all on your own," Blaster replied.

"Well, that's what you get for going on an adventure without Skelly," Dave teased his buddy with a wide grin on his face.

"Man, this is really not fun at all." Flanker complained.

"Shut up! You're the whole reason that we're all trapped," Fortress angrily shouted.

"Wish you the best with your Dungeon, guys. If you ever get out, go to Urburg. PM me and I'll send Tiny to get you to the East ASAP." Dave promised.

"Yeah, yeah," Perfect Shot replied pouting, "We're stuck for at least the next twelve hours before the door opens again. By that time, you'll have already arrived in the East and with the number of those troops, I say you'll take it with ease."

"Nah, I doubt it will be that easy. Remember, the East has yet to show us a single general. The attacks we led on them only brought out their Elite Soldiers. They are powerful but if I were to compare them with the Undead Legion they would be something between a Death Knight and a Doom Knight… in other words, I bet they have something much more powerful than those."

"So what? With two Abyssal Knights, what could they possibly have that could stop you?" Flanker chimed in.

"Your jinxing mouth!" Dave groaned. "Alright then, once you're out, tell me. Skelly, Over and Out!"

Dave hung up on the party and kept moving forward.

The sea voyage lasted for a long while. Thanks to the enormous numbers of Dave's troops, there was no way anything would dare stand in their way, especially when he had the Kraken going deep under the seawater, forcing any creature dumb enough to attempt hunting his Undead to consider if they really wanted to join the troops or end up in someone's belly.

***

The sounds of battle echoed through the Qin Capital, the streets were clogged tight as the Qin soldiers brought down buildings to block the ways through the city.

"What's the situation?" Warlord shouted as he had his hand on the side of his helmet.

Satan Slayer's voice came from the other side of the party com, "There's a huge number of Elite Soldiers stationed around the palace. We can't get through them without being spotted. All who tried, get ganged up and one-shotted!" 

"Mercy should be able to bypass them, why didn't she? Fucking get her to kill the damned king, we're tight on time! Skelly could be here any moment now!"

"I doubt he'll come here. He should have been out of the [Lock-Down] for six hours by now. If he could actually intervene, don't you think he would have done that hours ago. Mercy can't do shit. There are tons of True Sight lamps, which will immediately cancel her Invisibility Skill. If she moves in too deep she's dead and we don't have the luxury to wait for her to leave Limbo."

"Damn, we'll need to make a big commotion. Alright, I'm coming to over and will lure the Qin Elites away. Just get ready to act!" Warlord said and dashed ahead.

The city burned with raging fires as explosions echoed through it. The number of players filling the street was staggering. And in tight exposures, their AOE skills proved lethal against the Qin Soldiers who relied on their swords to fight against the players.

The howls of wyverns echoed through the city. The Qin Soldiers might have lost the ground battle, but the aerial support gave the Qin Kingdom the ability to rally orders and recon at great efficiency. The aerial attacks proved lethal to any who didn't watch over their heads, culling the lives of the less attentive players.

The flames of war continued to rise as Qin fought back with all they had.

"We can't get through the Docks, it's packed full of Soldiers!" One of the Devastators A team leader shouted.2

"Then don't! We don't need the docks! Leave them be and help the rest at the city center instead! We have enough trouble capturing it!" Another A-team leader shouted back.

A loud horn blew through the city, causing most of the soldiers to fall back. This left the players perplexed. The enemy was retreating but to where?

Soon came the sound of hooves, and behind the players from the broken gate, tens of thousands of riders came charging. Every single one of the riders was an Elite Knight.

"We're being flanked!" Demetri panicked for a moment as he was not used being in the midst of battle. "Mercs, hold them off! Jeffery, if shit hits the fan, bomb them!"

"Roger!" Jeffery replied and activated his Mecha Skill. Transforming into an enormous steel humanoid.

The Mecha's size was bigger than the buildings around it, giving him a clear shot of anything that moved.

Jeffery loaded his guns and began letting out a storm of bullets that tore through the horses. The riders at the front were the first to fall and the ones behind them who didn't fall ended up trampling over their own allies, leaving them dead or dying in their wake.

The mercenary forces retreated and began shooting spells at the incoming riders. Mines and traps had been placed in haste, as they prepared for the impact.

Tanks used their shields to hold the charge, casters, and archers released volleys of arrows and spells while the support classes buffed their allies to hold the front.

The crash came soon… proving beneficial to the riders. Even with the Tanks' great resilience, a rider's charge had enough momentum to throw the players off, causing the knockback effect.

The riders tore through the weak and hastily made ranks and started a massacre.

It was obvious that the Qin Elites were winning this trade-off, as players died left and right.

"Jef!" Demetri shouted.

"Fuck, I'm on it!"

Jeffery's Mecha opened its chest area. From within the robot's chest came a spherical metallic ball. The Mecha grabbed it and threw it toward the Qin Soldiers.

"Brace for impact!" Jeffery warned.

Almost immediately, all the players ducked down, even the ones that were fighting. Though this gave the enemy ample opportunity to kill them, what would come next was going to be much worse.

Seconds later, a soundless explosion echoed. It was of course not mute, but the sound was so loud it surpassed sonic speeds.

A shockwave blasted through the entirety of the Qin Capital, causing the hundreds of damaged buildings to crumble to dust flattening any residents who may have tried to hide, while those buildings which had remained intact filled up with cracks and signs of massive damage.

A mushroom cloud rose up in the distance where the Qin Army was. It didn't take much time for the dust to fade away as a strong wind gale pushed it away.

What remained of the Qin Army was nothing but ash and molten armor.

"Good shot!"

"Yeah, fucking sucks that it doesn't give EXP! I would have been max level by now!" Jeffery cursed.

"That Skill is unfair enough as it is if it gave EXP you'd be the game's most broken player." Warlord replied immediately thinking of another cheat character.

"Everyone, regroup, shit's about to go down," Valentine called.

"Why, what's happening?" Warlord asked as he had just arrived at the palace gate where he saw the Elite Soldiers that Satan Slayer was talking about.

"Four Boss Class Elites showed up, I think these are Army Generals," Valentine answered.

"Where?!"

"Right in the middle of the city, they're not moving a single inch, but whenever one of our players enters their attack range, they immediately execute them. Even a near full Tank didn't last a second against them." Valentine said.

"Shit, share their Status Screen", Warlord ordered.

"That's the problem. They cannot be inspected. We never had this problem before, so all we know is that they seem invincible." Valentine sighed.

"Doesn't matter," Mercy interrupted.

"Why? Those Four Generals are cutting off our army. We need the rest of the players to take out the Elites at the palace gates.

"Not really, that broken Skill was actually useful," Mercy said, "It cut off the power supply of the True Sight lamps, I will be able to enter the palace now."

"Yes! Finally, luck is smiling my way. Go, take the King out, then those Generals will become useless!" Warlord urged.

"On it!"

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