Second World

At one edge of Lorethion near the capital wall, Mistress was standing before a large cave which was also the eldritch beholder's nest.

It had been two days since the joined forces of Verremor and Themisphere arrived and started bombarding their walls. Instead of leading her army, Mistress spent these two days in and out of this cave. Every time she came, she came into the cave with carts holding prisoners. These operations were done by World Ruler's guild members. They also took secluded roads, so natives mostly didn't know about this.

The prisoners were collected from all over the country. Mistress had tightened the laws recently after gaining the eldritch beholder as her country guardian. Even small offenders were captured and imprisoned. These caused the jails to always be full. Before the siege started, carts full of prisoners were always transported to the capital daily.

These unreasonable laws had caused a severe drop in the country's overall happiness, but Mistress didn't care. She simply maintained the happiness stat from reaching a point where people might rebel. Aside from that, she didn't care if this unhappiness caused a drop in their economy and productivity. She needed an urgent battle power at the moment and these prisoners could give her that.

Lead Designer came to Mistress who was still standing before the beholder's nest.

"My queen," He called. "I've estimated the rate by which the wall's HP falls, I think the wall can only last two more days at the most."

"That's fine," Mistress replied. "She will be ready by tomorrow."

"She will?" Lead Designer was happy to hear that.

"She will have more if she is given more days, but what she has now should be enough to deal with the rabbles outside our walls."

"Great, then I will ready our army for tomorrow as well," Lead Designer uttered.

Mistress simply nodded at the statement.

When Lead Designer didn't leave, she asked, "Anything else?"

"Er… World Maker has sent a member here. This member said Linda sent him here to help us," Lead Designer answered.

"A member? What can one player do? He can enter this place with the siege going on outside? Is he one of the heavenly enforcers?"

"Yes, he slipped in through the siege, but no, he is not a heavenly enforcer," Lead Designer replied. "He said he wanted to talk to you. He is waiting in the palace."

"Actually, I followed you here," A voice was heard and a player of the ethereal race appeared near them.

"What do you mean sneaking on us like this?" Lead Designer scolded.

"Hehe. I just want to show you my ability in sneaking," the player said.

Mistress observed the ethereal player. She had never seen this player before. The player was wearing a rogue outfit. The invisibility skill this rogue used could fool her God-eye monocle. She was now using Inspect on this rogue.

Her Inspect informed her that this player was indeed a World Maker's member. The player's name was Speedrun. He was level 76. His level was not so special but still above the average players. What was special about him was his class. It was Master Thief, a first-class special class.

"I don't know you. Are you new in World Maker?" Mistress asked.

"I indeed joined the club not long ago," Speedrun answered. "They realized my potential and helped me get this special class. Now, I'm returning the favor."

"You said Linda sent you? How can you help?" Mistress asked.

"She did. She had learned from Master about what you have inside this cave, so she sent me here with a plan," Speedrun replied. "I've heard your conversations. You want to go on an offensive tomorrow, don't you? Wait until you receive my signal before carrying out your attack. Can you do that?"

"What is your plan?" Mistress asked.

"Hehe," Speedrun chuckled. He told them about Linda's plan.

*

The next day, everything continued as the days before. The Verremor and Themisphere armies remained vigilant throughout the days. They were ready in case the Aurebor army decided to rush out to take out the siege weapons.

The players were less disciplined. Most big guild's players maintained a certain level of vigilance. The smaller guilds and independent players felt bored by the lack of actions these few days. Some just leisured around. The others went somewhere nearby to grind monsters for exp points.

Four Winds couldn't control those players. They were mostly volunteers, anyway. They joined the war for war contribution points. When the battle started, they would return by themselves.

While everyone thought the day would proceed as it did yesterday, a shrill horn sounded in the air. This horn came from inside Lorethion.

Not long after the horn sounded, they heard clamors from inside the sieged capital. Soon after, the main gate to the capital opened.

Four Winds were conversing with the guild leaders where the players were camping at the time. He came out of the tent and saw the situation.

"Battle stations!!" Four Winds yelled. Everyone had snapped to attention after they heard the horn. It didn't take long for the players to respond to Four Winds' command. These players sent messages to their friends who were away to hurry back because a battle was about to start.

Verremor and Themisphere's battle horns also sounded from where those armies were positioned, calling those who were still unaware of the situation to get back into formation.

The native soldiers were ready. They got into formation in a heartbeat. These soldiers watched droves of elven soldiers rushing out from the opened gate of Lorethion.

*

On Verremor's field command base before Lorethion's main gate opened, the army got to attention once they heard the horn from inside Lorethion. Makubwa exclaimed in excitement, "Finally! I can fight an honorable battle!"

Kabaka, who was nearby and was holding the totem banner, said to him, "It's not certain yet they will come out. The horn can mean anything."

"It sounds like they will be coming out," Makubwa said after hearing the clamor inside Lorethion following the horn.

"They probably thought they couldn't wait any longer. The wall will be destroyed soon," Four Winds walked into the command base.

"From the looks of it, it should still be one more day before the wall falls," Kabaka said.

"Hah! Whatever the reason. I am bored of standing out here doing nothing," Makubwa uttered. "I will head out to the front!"

Makubwa flew forward using his wings tool. After he was gone, Four Winds came and stood behind Kabaka. "Is our army ready?" He asked.

Kabaka turned to Kima who was operating the war table not far away.

"Everyone is in position," Kima reported.

"Good," Four Winds remarked.

They returned their attention to the front. Not long after, Lorethion's gate opened. They saw elven soldiers start coming out. While they were watching those enemy soldiers, a loud voice was heard from behind.

"What the… Who are you…?!!"

They turned and saw another Four Winds approaching.