Chapter 177: [177] : Return to Iron Bastion, The Warlord’s Throne
The transition through the Abyssal Warp Gate was completely flawless.
There was no nauseating spinning sensation. There was no freezing cold wind hitting their faces like a physical wall. There was no bright, flashing white light to blind them while the game engine struggled to render the new environment.
It was just a single step. One second they were in the heavily corrupted, laser filled basement of Sector 1, and the next second, they were home.
Declan stepped out of the black void. His heavy Spiked Striders hit the solid stone pavement with a heavy and satisfying crunch.
He was standing right in the absolute center of the Iron Bastion courtyard.
Sloane, Morgan, and Nova stumbled out of the portal right behind him. The massive dark matter gateway instantly snapped shut and vanished into thin air. It didn’t leave behind a trace of smoke or static. It left absolutely no sign that it had ever been there.
Nova dropped to her knees on the clean paving stones. The elite hacker looked down at her hands. She patted her chest, breathing heavily. She looked completely amazed, like someone who had just won the lottery and survived a car crash on the exact same day.
"Zero latency," Nova breathed out in pure shock, her icy blue eyes wide. "We just crossed five hundred miles in a fraction of a millisecond. There was no data drag at all. The server didn’t even try to buffer our character models. That is physically impossible on this server’s architecture."
Morgan stood up straight and sheathed her combat daggers. The assassin looked equally impressed.
"Do you have any idea how broken that is for infiltration? You can bypass any corporate checkpoint on the planet without triggering a single alarm."
"I keep telling you," Declan smiled coldly, adjusting the collar of his pitch black Predator’s Coat. "I don’t care about the server’s math. The rules do not apply to me."
He looked around his city.
The Iron Bastion looked entirely different from when he had left it just a few hours ago.
Bram, the Level 30 Master Artificer, had been incredibly busy. He clearly hadn’t taken a break to sleep.
The massive black iron walls towering over the city were no longer just smooth, flat metal. They were completely lined with heavy, physics breaking artillery. It looked like a militarized porcupine.
Dozens of Sovereign tier Anti Air Batteries pointed their sleek blue barrels toward the dark, smog choked sky. They swiveled back and forth with a quiet, menacing hum, actively scanning the clouds for any corrupted wyverns or dragons foolish enough to fly over Sector 7.
Every fifty feet along the heavy stone battlements sat a massive Void Artillery cannon. The dark matter prongs of the massive siege weapons hummed with terrifying gravitational energy. They looked like giant tuning forks waiting to delete whatever they pointed at.
The city was a literal fortress of death. Nothing was getting in without Declan’s explicit permission. If a corporate army tried to march on those gates right now, they wouldn’t last ten seconds.
"Boss!" a loud, gruff voice yelled out across the courtyard.
Bram jogged over from the central forges. The old NPC wiped a thick layer of engine grease and soot off his wrinkled forehead with a dirty rag. His black obsidian mechanical arm whirred smoothly, the dark metal joints moving with perfect fluidity as he stopped in front of Declan.
"The perimeter is entirely secure," Bram reported proudly. A wide, highly satisfied grin was plastered on his face. "We have full overlapping fields of fire. The targeting sensors are fully calibrated to the city’s main grid. If a Level 100 monster even looks at this dome funny, the auto turrets will turn it into digital soup before it can take a step."
"Excellent work, Bram," Declan nodded. "I knew I hired the right guy."
A sleek, completely silent figure walked up beside the old blacksmith.
It was Aegis.
The Level 80 System Defense Entity moved with absolute, terrifying grace. She didn’t make a single sound as she walked. Her matte black metallic body seemed to actively absorb the light of the nearby glowing forges. The bright purple energy lines running along her chassis pulsed in a steady, rhythmic heartbeat, circulating pure Abyssal mana through her mechanical veins.
"Welcome back, Warlord," Aegis said. Her synthetic voice was perfectly calm, smooth, and highly professional. "The city’s internal economy is operating at maximum efficiency. The refugee hunting parties have deposited exactly twelve million Origin Points into the treasury over the last four hours."
Sloane gasped so hard she actually choked on her own spit. "Twelve million?!"
The Quartermaster frantically pulled up her glowing digital clipboard. Her eyes rapidly scanned the scrolling numbers, trying to make sense of the sheer volume of wealth pouring into their bank account.
"They are literally fighting each other to pay taxes," Sloane laughed. It was a bright, completely manic sound. "The EXP boosting potions you put on the leaderboard broke their brains! They aren’t even sleeping! They are strip mining the ruined streets outside like there is no tomorrow!"
Declan smirked. He really loved passive income.
"They know the server merge is coming," Declan noted casually. "They know the big monsters are out there. Fear makes people very productive."
He didn’t have to walk out into the mud and swing his heavy halberd to farm trash mobs anymore. He didn’t need to get his boots dirty hunting Level 5 slime monsters. He had an entire city of highly motivated gamers doing the dirty work for him.
He was the Warlord. He owned the land, he owned the weapons, and he owned the bank.
"Keep the system running, Sloane," Declan instructed. "If anyone tries to hoard the monster cores instead of depositing them, kick them out of the dome."
"With pleasure, boss," Sloane grinned, her retail manager instincts fully taking over.
Declan walked past them and headed straight for the heavy stone steps of the central keep. His heavy Spiked Striders clicked against the pavement. He climbed the wide stairs and walked out onto his high, overarching balcony that overlooked the entire courtyard.
He turned around and sat down heavily in his massive iron Warlord’s throne.
The heavy metal chair groaned slightly under his completely absurd physical density. He rested his chin on his fist and looked out over his sprawling, impenetrable megacity.
Down below, thousands of players were rushing back and forth between the gates and the merchant stalls, carrying carts full of digital loot. The massive purple forges roared in the background. The transparent red energy dome hummed quietly above them, keeping the toxic rain of the apocalypse entirely at bay.
It was a perfectly functioning machine. And it was all his.
He pulled up his system interface with a quick mental thought.
His eyes suddenly constricted as motes of blue light could be seen within their depths. At that moment, a blue panel appeared before him.
[Server Map System]
↳ Accessing Global Interface
↳ Bypassing Host Information
↳ Bypassing Abyssal Sovereign Stats
He bypassed his massive health pool. He ignored his broken Abyssal Sovereign stats and his Sovereign tier equipment list. He went straight to the global server map.
A massive blue hologram projected into the air in front of his throne. It was highly detailed, showing the real time status of the newly merged reality.
Sector 7 was glowing with a bright, healthy purple light. It was a beacon of safety in the middle of a ruined planet. It belonged entirely to the Eclipse Legion.
He looked at the surrounding areas.
Sector 6, the former military stronghold of Titan Heavy Industries, was a massive red hazard zone. It was completely overrun by the Abyssal Tide monsters. Millions of glowing red dots swarmed the map over there. The corporate armies that used to own that land had been entirely wiped out or forced to flee when the borders dropped.
It was a total dead zone now. Which was perfect. It acted as a massive buffer between his city and the rest of the world.
He swiped his hand, dragging the holographic map further out. He wanted to see how the other half lived.
Sector 1, Sector 2, and Sector 3 were located on the far side of the continent. They were still glowing with the bright gold colors of the corporate guilds.
Apex Paradigm, Proud Sword Megacorp, and the other major tech conglomerates were still sitting heavily in their pristine, bought and paid for safe zones.
Declan zoomed in on Sector 1. He could see the massive data hubs and the heavily fortified skyscrapers. He remembered the arrogant face of Cipher, the sponsored streamer who thought he could just buy a win.
They thought they were safe behind their millions of real world credits. They thought they could still dictate the rules of the game from their high towers just because they owned the developer codes.
They thought this was still just a video game.
Declan leaned back in his cold iron throne. A dark and utterly ruthless smile spread across his face.
He had broken the level cap. He had built an impossible fortress. He had an army of immortal shadow clones. He had more Origin Points than the server was designed to hold.
And he was bored.
’I really am bored at this point!’ Declan smiled bitterly as he slumped in his chair, his eyes hollow. Just sitting around and watching numbers go up? What kind of game did this turn into?
"Aegis," Declan called out into the quiet air of the balcony.
The sleek metallic AI instantly bypassed the physical stairs and teleported directly onto the balcony next to his chair. She stood perfectly straight, her glowing blue optical sensors locking onto him.
"Yes, Warlord?" Aegis asked.
Declan tapped the glowing blue map floating in front of him. He pointed directly at the massive gold territory of Sector 1.
"Prepare the Shadow Legion," Declan ordered smoothly. His deep voice carried a heavy, terrifying resonance that vibrated the metal of his throne. "We are running out of building materials for the outer walls. And I think Sector 1 has exactly what we need."
Aegis didn’t question the order. "Deploying the Legion now, Boss. Shall I set the engagement protocols to lethal?"
"Of course," Declan smiled, his pitch black eyes swirling with dark purple energy. "It is time to go collect some more taxes."
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