~Diglett Basin~
Invisible smoke drifted across this barren land...
Rows of powerful Pokémon soldiers marched in perfect formation, kicking up clouds of dust as they advanced toward a city surrounded by thick earthen walls and water-filled moats.
All kinds of flashy attacks slammed into the defenses. With a thunderous crash, the earthen wall finally collapsed under the strain.
But the very next second, an identical thick earthen wall shot up from the ground, blocking the Pokémon army once again.
"Damn it! That punk's Lord skill is so freaking annoying!" Jeroen cursed as he watched the scene unfold.
Three days ago, he had set his sights on this strategically located territory, planning to conquer it quickly so he could start farming the nearby resource nodes. Unexpectedly, after fighting for a full day and night, not only had he failed to take the territory, but he'd also lost a significant amount of resources and troops.
The Diglett Basin was a chaotic mess of competing factions. Jeroen didn't have time to keep wasting here, so he had contacted a friend to help gang up on the defender.
Today was the day of the final showdown...
His friend frowned as he watched the wall regenerate, then quickly made up his mind: "The City Lord skill can only be used when the Lord isn't in combat. I'll go in with my Altaria to stall for time, you handle the rest."
Jeroen wasn't dumb, he had already figured that out himself. The problem was, he hadn't brought any flying-type Pokémon into this Instance, and none of the troops his barracks had spawned could fly either.
He nodded, "Alright. Once we take this territory, you get half the resources."
Sergey said nothing. He stared at his inventory panel, his brow twitching uncontrollably.
In his inventory was a foresight item. It couldn't predict specific events, but it could accurately gauge the danger level of a given situation. Right now, that item was glowing with an eerie, black-tinged red light.
Black-tinged red meant extreme peril or great misfortune.
But he couldn't understand why.
He had used a City Protection Token on his own base, which granted 24 hours of immunity to all attacks. And he'd scouted this territory thoroughly beforehand.
It was just upgraded to Lv3 yesterday morning. The Lord was some no-name player who'd been under siege for days and couldn't gather resources outside, so his troop count was low.
The only real nuisance was that terrain-altering Lord skill of his. But they have already found a counter for that, so he couldn't figure out why the danger reading still said great misfortune...
Riding Altaria, Sergey soared over the manipulated terrain below and headed straight for the rear city wall.
The unknown always breeds fear. As he drew closer to the wall, his heart climbed into his throat. Yet when he finally landed in front of it, the ominous omen never materialized.
'Could the Infinite World have glitched?'
Sergey dismissed the thought... He had reached his destination.
Sitting atop Altaria, he looked down at the unfamiliar player below and gave the order, "Dragon Pulse!"
A purple shockwave erupted from Altaria's mouth.
Terrence only saw a blinding flash of violet light, and the next moment, he was back at the respawn point.
In this special Instance, players weren't eliminated upon death, but respawned in the Lord's Hall...
With the lord's skill interrupted, the previously impenetrable earthen walls outside immediately showed cracks. The enemy seized the opportunity and launched a full assault.
In the blink of an eye, large sections of the wall crumbled...
As the Lord, Terrence immediately received the alert. He didn't even have time to recall his six Pokémon fighting outside the walls. The moment he stepped out of the Lord's Hall, another purple flash knocked him down again, sending him back for a second respawn.
"Damn it! I'm getting spawn-camped like a dog!"
Frustrated and humiliated, Terrence flopped onto his bed and opened his friend panel to complain: {Bro, how much longer till your reinforcements arrive? I'm about to get booted out of here!}
Caleb checked the march timer before answering:
{Caleb: Twenty minutes.}
Seeing how pitiful he sounded, Hatsumi couldn't help but ask:
{Hatsumi: Is it really that bad? Who are they?}
{Terrence: I'm trapped in my Lord's Hall. I can't even contact my own Pokémon. I just got a notification that the enemies are attacking my city walls. The two attackers are named Jeroen van Dijk and Sergey Morozov.}
{Hatsumi: Sergey Morozov? I've heard that name before… I think he's connected to Ye Fan.}
Seeing that, Terrence instantly shot up from bed. Just as he was about to say something, he got another alert... his outer walls had been breached.
His expression darkened.
{Terrence: How much time left?}
He asked urgently.
The question was vague, but Caleb understood.
{Caleb: Eighteen minutes and thirty-six seconds.}
Terrence's vision darkened. With the enemy attacking from both inside and out, at this rate, his Lord's Hall wouldn't last that long. Muttering curses, he walked outside
{Terrence: If I get eliminated, you two better avenge me!}
With that, he closed the panel and strode out of the Lord's Hall.
Seeing his target emerge, Sergey was about to attack, but then heard a sharp, "Wait!"
He paused...
The earlier unease from the great misfortune warning had completely vanished. Now, seeing how pathetic the guy looked, he couldn't resist sneering, "What? Got last words to say?"
Terrence rolled his eyes internally but asked calmly, "You know Ye Fan and Baek Gyeol, right?"
At those names, Sergey froze for a second, then thought it over and asked, "What about them?"
Terrence took that as confirmation and pressed on, "Heard you guys have been looking for Caleb's location lately?"
"How do you know that?" Sergey blurted out instinctively, then quickly corrected himself, "Wait, why are you asking?"
Terrence: "What if I told you I know where he is?"
Sergey didn't believe him.
"I'm his friend."
That made Sergey even more skeptical, "Really? I doubt it. I've never heard of him having any friends."
After all, in Infinite World, few people had ever seen Caleb in public, let alone heard of him having friends. Reliable intel said he was a lone wolf who never teamed up with anyone.
Terrence gave a mysterious smile and proudly displayed his Lord panel:
[Alliance Name: Brotherhood Oath of the Peach Garden
Allies: Caleb Chase, Terrence Jones, Haruno Hatsumi]
Hatsumi had come up with the Alliance name herself.
Now Sergey had no choice but to believe it. After a moment's thought, he asked, "So… you're betraying him?"
Terrence shrugged, "I just don't wanna get eliminated so early. If you stop attacking, I'll give you his location."
Of course, whether that location was real or not… well, that was another story.
Just then, Jeroen arrived in front of the Lord's Hall.
The city walls were already gone, leaving only the basic internal structures and the Lord's Hall remained.
"What's going on?" Jeroen asked.
Sergey didn't answer him. He just kept his eyes on Terrence and said, "Give me a minute."
Terrence was more than happy to stall, so he nodded generously. It seemed Hatsumi had guessed correctly. Sergey was about to contact Ye Fan...