18:00 AT, Day Eighteen | Fort Marcos

  I plant the shield overload charge and quickly dash away. The explosion goes off and tears a small hole in the shield of Fort Marcos, the fort in the middle of the biome. Perfect for Ray and I to slip through.

  Each of us is loaded with a belt full of plasma grenades, and enough insanity to destroy an entire civilization under normal circumstances. Ray stands beside me and gives me one of her signature smiles. “C’mon darling, let's go get us a new fort, it's been a while since we last got one, after all.”

  “Sure thing, darling.” I say, and then enter through the hole in the shield.

  We jump onto the battlements and quickly dispatch the soldiers there. They barely pose any challenge, since the Quartet’s catastrophic loss, they have recalled most of their stronger soldiers into their core. Smart move, but it leaves all their other forts extremely vulnerable.

  Ray and I drop grenades into the soldiers gathered in the courtyard. I even fire a {Lightning Bolt} for good measure. They quickly scatter, forcing us to chase them all around the fort.

  We quickly take down the shielding arrays and the rest of our force charges in. We quickly clear the fort, capture it and leave. After all, Ray and I are a busy couple of people for the next while.

  While our forces recovered from the siege on the castle, we figured we would take a nice vacation. Capture the remaining forts from the Quartet, you know, normal couple activities.

  04:00 AT, Day Nineteen | Fort Riker

  Our convoy pulls up to Fort Riker. The north-easternmost Fort in the temperate forest. Ray gives me a smile and we get out of the truck.

  We quickly grab some explosives and practically teleport next to the wall.

  The shield conveniently lets us through, after a bit of convincing with explosives of course. We slip in and quickly clear out anyone that can give us trouble.

  However, we did run into one-great soldier. They were guarding the shield array on the west side. Ray and I made short work of them, our coordination leading to a brilliant dance, worthy of an award for sure.

  We quickly take out the shield arrays, allowing what remains of our force to finish clearing out the fort.

  We capture the fort, then take a quick break for lunch.

  We've got a nice set of sandwiches, which we eat while sitting on the battlements. Our legs dangle off the sharp drop while we look at the brilliant terrain, painted a nice silvery color by the fake moon.

  I can't imagine what the Quartet are going through right now. Trying to assemble as much of a force as they can to resist us. Meanwhile, we casually rip through their fortified positions that have been left vulnerable.

  Oh well, that's just war.

  We head onto the next fort, this one is located in the next biome over. A nice prairie. The beasts are a form of prairie dog that gather in swarms and have very sharp teeth. There is also a type of very annoying vulture that dive bombs in an aerial assault. Unfortunately for them, we have guns, and Ray and I can even fly.

  We continue our policy of scorched Earth. Leaving a wake of new territory as we pass through on our vacation. Ray is really enjoying it, taking the travel time as a good opportunity to get some headrubs.

  Who knew war could be so fun when you had a massive advantage. I can see why past nations used to want such large military forces. Wars are far easier when you have an overwhelming advantage.

  9:00 AT, Day Eighteen | Prairie / Fort Rao

  This Fort’s name is Rao. Man, I really wish I had a nuke right about now. Even if I can't get the guy directly, a fort named after him would be wonderful. Unfortunately, it seems the market has stopped selling even the portable fusion bombs. Guess the game masters didn't like my clever use of it.

  The early morning sun is painting the prairie and Fort in a slight orangeish tint. Almost reminds me of the firestorm we created. I guess when you think about it, stars are just a big ball of superhot plasma. Basically gigantic storms of heat and energy.

  Ray sneaks up behind me (I can sense her coming, but I let her sneak up) and grabs me into a big hug. She rests her head on my shoulder and whispers, "I'm not done with you yet. Get back here, darling.”

  Mysteriously, the attack on the fort is delayed by about thirty minutes because the commanders are nowhere to be found. Quite a bizarre happenstance.

  Luckily, we both reappear and quickly charge at the fort. You know the drill by now.

  The shield charge goes right through the shield, and we enter. We quickly make our way into the western shield array, but we find a happy surprise inside.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  Sitting on the floor, legs crossed, is Rao. When we enter the room, he starts smiling. Honestly, it's quite terrifying when such a strong opponent smiles at you.

  We have yet to fight Rao, but based on his performance during the Achilles raid, he is quite strong. Easily a high great-level, which places him amongst the best human fighters pre-ascension. Though, unfortunately for him, we are some of humanity’s best fighters, post-ascension.

  He clicks his tongue a few times, clearly disrespectfully. “Well, well, well. Look what the wind blew in. It's a pair of pyromaniacs!” he says, in a friendly tone.

  I turn to Ray who is standing at my side, watching Rao for any movement. “Hey darling, let's mess up that pretty face of his, shall we?”

  “Sure thing, darling. I especially want to break his nose, it's far too perfect.” Ray says, grabbing hold of my hand and giving it a squeeze.

  I charge in as fast as I can, nailing him right in the chest. I don't think he expected us to come in and start attacking. He is probably used to ceremonial duels and such, he is a sol-renowned fencer after all. But, it seems we have taught him a critical lesson that none of his teachers could.

  In a war, formalities are pointless. You better be ready to fight for your very life.

  Now, this isn't quite a real war, it's not like our lives are at stake. But in the world of gaming, that often just makes people even more violent, and less caring about diplomacy.

  After all, why not start fights as quickly as possible, it's not like you can actually lose everything. Best to have as much fun fighting and not waste time with boring conversations.

  Rao quickly recovers and jumps to his feet, his sabre appears into his hand.

  Only for Ray to immediately hit him with a Rail slug, right in the face. Or it would've, if a respawn barrier didn't appear and whisk Rao away to be respawned.

  “Aww, cmon! That would've made such a nice dent in his too-perfect face. Why’d it gotta be a lethal blow.” Ray pouts as she runs over to grab onto me, looking sad.

  “Unfortunately, I guess it will have to wait another day. Though, this really answers the question of: what happens when you bring a gun to a knife fight?”

  “Yeah, turns out the gun just wins. Who woulda guessed, pointy sticks just aren't what they are cracked up to be anymore.”

  “To be fair, that was a great shot, you're a genius, darling.” I say, giving her a few pats on the head.

  “Aww, If it wasn't for your awesome setup, I wouldn't have had the chance to make the shot. It was a team effort.” She says, before reaching up to grab me into a very long kiss.

  This girl will truly be the death of me someday.

  “Well then Ray, how about we finish up this fort and head for the last one.”

  “Aww, but I don't want our vacation to end, I want more headrubs!” She pouts.

  “Im sure once the trial is over we can take a nice long vacation. Perhaps we can even stop by the Shesah embassy again and enjoy their resorts.”

  “Oooh, that sounds nice. Nothing like a good spa day to make a girl feel whole again.” Ray says, brightening at the prospect of a resort vacation.

  We quickly capture the fort and head off to the next one. The one closest to the Quartet’s fortress.

  17:00 AT, Day Eighteen | Forest / Fort Unity

  The evening is starting to set in as we approach Fort Unity. The last fort that the Quartet own. Though, they won't own it for much longer if we have anything to say about it.

  Poor Emil and Linda have been really busy trying to organize our forces to defend our new territory. Plus we have started building industrial facilities and such for processing the resources. The war engine must keep running, we can't afford for it to halt.

  This fort does pose a bit of a different challenge, since it has a hellfire cannon mounted on it. But, luckily, our technology has advanced a lot in this arena.

  “Hey Ko, you remember the good ol’ days? The seven of us charged into Fort Ridere and captured it. We had to use that poor bisoclo as bait for the cannon. It feels like so long ago, but it's only been like, two weeks or so.” Ray says while she hangs from the branches of a nearby tree.

  “Yeah, time really does fly by when you are having fun. To think, even just a few months ago, we were just humans on Earth. Now we are here in an alien space station competing in a war game that is simulated in reality with some crazy tech.”

  “Mhm, I wonder what kind of adventures we will have next, I can only imagine it will get even crazier. I wouldn't be surprised if they casually tell us to dive into a black hole or something ridiculous.”

  “Yeah, this is only the start, we've got a long road ahead of us to win this thing. But, we will do it together.” I say, then I walk over and give Ray a nice, long kiss. She is at the perfect height while hanging down, though an upside-down kiss does feel a bit strange. Not bad strange, it's still pleasant of course, it's Ray after all.

  We prepare ourselves, grab the explosives and charge right in. Well, after our decoy truck goes and triggers the hellfire cannon.

  The fort doesn't have shields, which means our entire force can just charge right in. The Quartet did station several great-levels inside, which resulted in a massive brawl in the courtyard.

  Ray took a nasty slug to the shoulder, but quickly got back up and poked a nice hole in the gut of the offender. Man, I love that girl so much, it's crazy.

  There is a minor bit of trouble from the others, but we manage to pull through with quite a few losses. Perhaps we underestimated them a bit, but it didn't kill us, so it's fine.

  We quickly take control of the Fort. Which means that the only territory left for the Quartet is their castle. All we must do is take their flag and quickly capture it back at our own castle. I’m sure it's gonna be an interesting mission, stealth and speedy extraction isn't exactly our strong suit.

  Plus, the Quartet have undoubtedly assembled all of their forces inside, and can easily buy more and respawn their troops. Though, I doubt they have the fanatical following to replicate the duck and stab strategy we employed.

  I am sure that whatever should come next, Ray and I will face it together, and overcome it. We are going to conquer the Quartet, proceed into the center of the arena and discover what is hidden there. Of course, we must also defeat Luna’s faction, which we have still not seen any signs of.

  Oh well, I'm sure they will come out to play soon.

  When they do, Ray and I will be ready, spears out and ready to do a large amount of poking. So, bring it on.

  End of Chapter 106

  Next: Chapter 107 | Ring of Fire

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