"Hah… I feel like I'm out of breath," Tilus muttered, exhaling as he and William approached the entrance to Darius's territory.
"You did well, Tilus. But we're not done yet," William replied. "We still have one more opponent to deal with."
Tiredness wasn't the real problem. The real problem was Darius.
Darius didn't play by normal rules. Too smart, too ruthless—his decisions weren't made on impulse, but with cold, calculated precision. But Tilus had something more dangerous than leverage.
He had a promise—an unpaid debt.
A line from the journal whispered in his mind:
"The King of the Underground owes a debt unpaid."
A vague entry. A betrayal in Stage 10. The man Darius trusted most would try to kill him. But that moment hadn't happened yet.
They reached the entrance. Two grunts blocked their path, blades drawn.
"Stop. You're not getting in," one of them barked.
"Does this feel familiar to you, William?" Tilus sighed.
"Yeah... oddly so," William nodded. Then, raising his voice, he said, "We're here to see Darius, the King of the Underworld."
"Hah! You think you can just walk in and demand an audience?"
One of them lunged, swinging his blade at Tilus.
Sigh.
So much for diplomacy.
The sounds of fighting erupted outside Darius's chamber. Ten men. But it didn't take long. Tilus and William moved like they'd done this before. In less than a minute, the grunts were unconscious, groaning on the ground.
They pushed open the doors and stepped inside.
The room was dark, thick with smoke and tension. Darius lounged on his throne, watching them approach with cool amusement.
"What a harsh hello you just gave," Tilus said.
"You really need to re-educate your men. They're a little too enthusiastic about gatekeeping." William said as we walk next to Tilus
Darius gave a lazy smile. "Let me guess—you want me to team up with the army?"
"Hmm. News travels fast, guess we don't need to introduce ourselves" Tilus replied.
"You don't survive in the underworld without staying informed." Darius smirked
He probably saw us enter Alex's tent, Tilus thought. Or he's got a spy in the army's ranks. Either way, it doesn't matter.
"Well? Isn't that what you came for?" Darius asked.
"No," Tilus said plainly. "I'm not here to make you play nice with the army. I want you to help my group survive. No titles, no commands. Just meet us at the main building of Cổ Loa Citadel. We're planning our defense for tomorrow."
Darius scoffed. "Trying to be clever with your words? Doesn't matter how you phrase it—helping you or the army, it's the same thing. You're asking for cooperation."
Tilus nodded. "Yeah."
"So what do you have to offer?"
Tilus raised a folded piece of paper in his hand.
Darius eyed it for a moment, then gestured for one of his grunts to take it. The man brought it back, unfolded it, and showed it to Darius.
The change was immediate.
Silence fell like a hammer. Darius's usual composure cracked, just slightly. His jaw clenched. Eyes narrowed.
Just as the journal had predicted.
Tilus spoke, low and deliberate. "You don't know me. But I know you. I know the man you trust the most is planning to put a bullet in your head."
The room froze.
Darius didn't move. But in his eyes, a flicker of doubt sparked.
"I won't say who. Not yet," Tilus continued. "Help me now, and I'll give you the name. I'll tell you when it happens. How it happens."
The words settled like poison in the air. Not a threat. A ticking clock.
Darius's fingers tapped against the armrest of his chair. Behind him, the men exchanged looks. Whispers. Paranoia bloomed.
"How am I supposed to trust a guy who walks in with a warning like this," Darius said coldly, "and just walks away?"
"You don't trust the army. But you can trust this—" Tilus pointed to the paper. "If I wanted to expose this, I would've shouted it the moment I walked in. And if you try to kill us, you won't survive either. Not after this."
There was a long pause.
Then Darius laughed. A low, dangerous laugh.
"Hah… It's been a long time since I met a brat like you. Fine. I'll play along—for now. But if you go back on your word..." He leaned forward, his voice dropping into a growl. "You'll die miserably."
Tilus didn't flinch. "Fair enough."
Tilus turned and William followed.
They walked back through the smoke, through the broken bodies, through the eyes watching them like ghosts.
Behind them, Darius sat again, already questioning the loyalty of every man in his room.
The betrayal hadn't happened yet.
But now?
Now it had a heartbeat.
Outside Tilus was ready to head back to the group. Tilus ask William ask he walk
"Oh I'll never thank you for saving me back there. Thanks William"
"Yeah, I had convince people to let me leave and save your sorry ass"
"Haha but I'm surprised you went with Violet"
"Yeah I saw her as soon as he woke up and we stuck together on the way to the Citadel. So when I said to come looking for you, she volunteered."
"Huh ? I thought she would be the type to not trust stranger ?"
"I don't know may be because I was handsome ?"
"Ah shut up you prince"
We both giggled as we walked back to where our friends were.
As night fall, it now the time for their meeting at strategic room. The room was filled with tension like a gun fully loaded and about to go off.
A curved table lay strewn with maps and chalk. At one end, Lieutenant Alex glared across the room—his jaw tight, eyes rimmed red. Opposite him sat Darius, cool in a dark jacket, fingers tapping an invisible beat on the tabletop. They both at least two people beside them
Tilus deeply sigh inside and wonder if he had make the right decision to bring these two ticking time bomb together. But he had gone two far to stop now.
"Ahem I glad you two had decided to come today, now since we pretty much know each other already let get into planning to defend this place. Now take it away William"
"As you all know this spot on the map is where the heart are, our last defense line as long the heart is not crumble, we would pass this Stage and the monsters going to attack through two gates. The South and North Gates we will divide people to take each gates.
"Since the North gates had advantage from above I want Alex and his group to take advantage of it, gun are useless against infected but we can use normal crossbow and heavy crossbow instead they are designed to defend on this stage so they would be effective in this Stage. Also infected are afraid of light, throw light bomb into them before attack with crossbow, they would be weaken severely.
Darius smirked 'Hah, you know all that information you keeping that all to themselves"
"I only found out just now" William said eyeing Tilus
"Hey now, dont glare at me like that, Also information aren't free these days" Tilus
"Also Darius I want your group to take the South gate, it near the river and I know you had been efficiently hunting and defending yourself against the infected." William continued "There is two more group who will aid you, the mobility group lead by Tilus will provide aid whenever need and switching back and forth between two group and lastly Mortem here will be backline provide first aid and healing the wounded people"
"Hahahahaha" Darius laugh hard at the plane
"Are you serious, we sit here patiently listening to your plan and yet this is all you came up with ?"
Alex sit silently quiet
"Alex your know it too dont you ? the two major flaws in this plan"
"William your plan sound good on paper but it not sufficient in reality, my group barely 100 people, the same with Darius group and that are after we actively trying to recruit them. How many people do you had on your side Tilus ?"
"Under 20, I saw their group earlier, they look like skilled fighters but that number too little"
"Yeah so the numbers are incredible small if we can't force the rest of people who are 800 to fight and there is civilian in my group who can't fight at all Tilus. We can't barely hold one gate, divided now will just pushing us faster to death"
"So what if I can solve that problem ?" Tilus said
"Sure let say you solve that problem, the next problem is that these people aren't fighters, they can't survive this horde of monsters at them, they will panicked and ran away" Alex continue
"Yeah what you need are people willing to fight this battle with you guys, isn't it ?"
They both silently nod
"Of course these people aren't fighters but we can't babysit them as well, do not forget this fact, everyone person here who survive till now had taken a life to survive, they aren't fighters but they are survivors and many if not all are somewhat blessed by constellations. You two try to take them and make it like a safe haven to join you two but look at reality here, they will die if they do not fight what we need is a spark for them to fight and show them how we can overwhelm the monsters with power of blessings"
"Tomorrow morning I will used the loudspeaker to invite them to fights and told them to gather at each gates. Alex and Darius, you will be leading each gates. Your roles will defend that gates with the best of your abilities and if that gates fall we will make the last stand at the Citadel front gates."
Now back to the planning each wave will start at 7pm night time after the sun had set and the infected people more frenzied at night, we will use light to lure them in, stalled them and finished them off.
[Main Stage 2: Defense of the Cổ Loa Citadel]
A historic stronghold. A beating Heart.
A thousand screams waiting to be born.
The Incarnations must defend the Citadel until dawn.
Goal: Protect the Heart of the Citadel for 3 waves
Failure condition: The Heart is a divine artifact.If destroyed, the Citadel and all inhabitants will perish.
Time until wave 1: [19 hours left]
Monsters: Wave 1 The swarm of infected
Infected numbers: 3000