X knew he didn’t have to hurry, but prolonging the inevitable wasn’t his style. “Okay, has the Steel warrior become Heroic?”

“Yep!” A voice rang out from behind him and a slightly shorter Moledox stood before him, though it radiated a great pressure. X could have it automated, but by now he was much more comfortable with allowing Etna to remotely maneuver his Heroes.

“Then let’s go,” he said as they travelled back the same way he’d come. His upgraded body tore through the soil and ground, Earth-Sense feeling the steps above him as they found their way under the Command Point. They dug an ascending tunnel up to the back of the Command Point, which for humans was oftentimes a keep or castle of some sort, and then burrowed through the floor.

They burst upward and their steel bodies made mincemeat out of the two guards that only had some leather and crude weapons to defend them.

“You dare?!” shouted out a fat, blue-clothed man with some chainmail and an iron sword as he leapt toward them.

X just smiled, his body easily deflected the iron sword. Etna quickly leapt forward and eviscerated the man, his entrails falling onto the ground in a heap. His face paled and he fell forward.

The Command Point immediately fell under their control, the resource generation and populace also coming under his control. He cared little for the humans and issued a command for all the able bodied to pick up any weapons they could and attack the mountain with the Wolf-Goblin duo.

 

“That should keep them busy, now onward to the next one.” A boom echoed out across the entire Game and the sky showed the image of the defeated Avatar with a skull and crossbones over it. “We don’t have much time.”

X really had overestimated their competence. Two human empires would usually host a Hero from their allied forces so that the Command Point would fall into the allied forces' hands immediately instead of the enemy. Not only that, it still allowed for the first Avatar to command his forces, but once the Avatar was slain and the Command Point was taken, everything by right was his.

“Idiots.” His scathing remark held less venom now that he’d slain the culprit of his enmity.

They jumped back into the hole and X led them to the next Command Point. There were hundreds of guards inside. It made sense if X thought about it. He’d taken out two gathering parties of the blue-clothes and only one of the red-clothes, and he didn’t know what kind of resources the red-cloth had available.

“Abort?” Etna asked cautiously. If they both died here, their Game would be up.

“What’s the risk?”

“Well, you lose and drop four hundred Rank or come back later when they might be better equipped and reinforced by the Gob-Wolf duo? Their numbers are higher, but do you think they’re strong enough?”

“LIkelihood of success?”

She counted the presences shifting above them, “Counting about two hundred soldiers in addition to the Avatar and…”

“There’s a Hero?” X could sense it pop into existence.

“Oh, well that answers that question.” Their faces glinted in hostility. Heroes weren’t cheap and consumed a Heroic slot, no matter whether they lived or died. This one would be fresh and probably not remotely controlled.

 

“The experience and resources…” Etna trailed off, really thinking about it.

“There’s nothing to think about anymore. We’re going," he said, deciding the risk was worth it.

 

They burst through the stone floor and immediately were assaulted by several spears. They laughed loudly as they spun, many spears catching in their armored back and snapping. Others were just too weak to penetrate their thick skin, the adaptation making them far more resilient than normal.

 

Still, the amount of spears pressing in and the presence of the Avatar and Hero were in the back of X and Etna’s mind. Their only break was that the Hero and Avatar lacked any armor, both wielding long iron-tipped spears.

 

They must’ve been tipped off. Spears were a good choice against Moledox, though they’d need slightly stronger metal to pierce their hides easily, and by then X hoped to have obsidian. We’re lucky they haven’t put anything into Magic.

As they slaughtered their way through many of the soldiers, the soldier’s morale began to drop and they started to back off and look the way of the Hero and Avatar.

“So it comes to this.” The Avatar stood and the Hero walked forward, brandishing their spears. X wore a wide grin and walked forward to meet the challenge, and Etna burrowed into the floor. X just loved the wide-eyed expression of his enemies when they realized how screwed they were.

X easily danced about the two spears until he caught one in hand, yanking the Hero forward and off balance. The Avatar quickly tried to defend his Hero, but it was too late. With a quick kick, the blades on his ankles beheaded the Hero and he landed with his back towards the Avatar. The spear slammed uselessly against his armored back, and he felt a wet plop as the Avatar fell forward. Etna had done her job well.

X issued the same commands to the humans in this fort and mentally issued commands to Etna.

“Increase population, put everyone out to find obsidian, max Weaponized Body, and unlock the Magic Tree. Manipulation, Control, Power, and then Element: Earth. Enhance Earth-Sense’s range.”

X didn’t want to get into a head-on fight with the Gob-Wolf duo, so he would train his people to be subterranean assassins. It truly amused X how he could take down these four in so little time, yet his Game with Gerald dragged on. Maybe he was too harsh on Gerald, as he could at least put up a decent fight.

The number of resources he gained with four times was enormous, rarely needing to direct his workers to do more than he already had. His parameters for work set before the Games even began.

Setting parameters allowed him to have Etna do a lot of the automation subconsciously, which meant he could run around in his Avatar and be a nuisance to his foes. Most people hesitated to play that way, but he enjoyed actively sabotaging his enemies early on. The Domino Effect could be seen when he compared the forces of the blue-cloth and the red-cloth, early impacts went a long way. That was when enemies were the most vulnerable.

X didn’t always play like that, but it was a fun way to play when his Rank was on the line. So many Vork played humans and it didn’t make sense to X. Humans were boring, their biggest advantage being their advanced mechanical technology tree and boost to studying techs in that tree. The Kor’Tar, although more physically frail, had wings for early scouting, a boost to magic and tech study, but the tech was slower than humans. When the two combined though, it made for a very enjoyable Game.

They traveled back to their subterranean Command Point and X entered secluded training, absorbing a lot of the experience he’d gained to boost his physical defense. His life was the most important, and as much as he wanted to train Earth, he needed to protect himself as much as possible. Obsidian would be the next upgrade now that Iron Gut, Adaptation, and Weaponized Body were maxed. The next upgrade would be Adamantium and he really hoped the Game was over long before that became an option.

His size grew, his hide thickened, and the steel augmentations glinted with a new sharpness as the durability had been boosted quite a bit. His frame now stood ten feet tall, his accumulated experience from the early kills and taking control of two Command Points brought him to a higher degree than before.

 

His confidence radiated out as he returned to Etna’s Hero. It had undergone a metamorphosis as well, though it had specialized in Earth, thinning out and growing orbs of magic in its hands and a massive one in the center of its chest. A blue liquid made the orbs glow, sloshing about inside.

 

Behind her stood twenty more warriors and mages, assorted about in a disorganized manner. He didn’t care much about their organization as they would primarily be working from underground. So far, he hadn’t revealed himself to the Gob-Wolf duo and there was no way to communicate in the middle of a Game. He really doubted there was any way either human Avatars got a message all the way to the other side of the map to the mountain dwelling duo.

 

“This should be enough, right?” X asked with a grin and Etna responded in kind.

 

“Enough? You’re huge! You could probably kill them by yourself.”

“I’m not gonna try, also don’t underestimate a lot of the bonuses that come with the Companion Tree. They shouldn’t be able to fight back, but prepare for any and all surprises. Stay hidden until necessary.” They still hadn’t found any obsidian, but with their experience and forces it was a moot point. If they skirmished a round and were forced back, they could always upgrade with obsidian later. He now had six forces worth of resource generation to the two of them.

The mountain would be their enemy’s graves, providing plenty of room for his Moledox forces to mount surprise attacks and then disappear into the very walls.

X wondered, as they traveled, what kind of strategy they went with. Reasonably, the only issues they would face is if all resources and experience gained went into both of their Avatars, but most low-Rankers would waste experience and Path Points to create a Hero and then dumped all their experience and resources into it.

They approached the large mountain and split off into different directions. His warriors and mages already received their commands before they departed. His Command Point was still heavily guarded by more than half his force. His strike team would either be enough or they would regroup to strike again later.

 

X upgraded Earth-Sense, so he could feel even the smallest movement, like a heartbeat, from the earthen mountain. He was both excited and disappointed. Their Companion forces were bolstered with numbers, but the Avatars were housed separately and had weak Heroes. Well, they were weak in comparison to his forces. Etna could single handedly wipe out the entire Goblin force.

“Take the midgets, I’ve got the big pup.” He fell through the ceiling and landed in the center of the large cave, an enormous Wolf had rested at the center. Above it read “Kirk’s Avatar” and it’s eyes held a hint of intelligence.

“As much as I hate to admit, you actually look pretty awesome,” X said, admiring the obsidian armor that the Wolf Avatar adorned. “Too bad it won’t be enough. Should’ve played a little more friendly with your midget buddy, then you might’ve had a chance.”

“You talk too much. I’m gonna rip you to shreds,” the Wolf howled, shaking the confines of the cave. Several Spirit Wolves flashed into existence and X felt some surprise.

“Etna, upgrade magic and soul resistance asap. We’ve got Spirit Wolves,” he said as he danced away from the glowing incorporeal forms. He felt resistances quickly layer across his being, but it stopped long before he was happy with it.

“All I can do X, sorry.” The sound of screaming could be heard as, he assumed, Goblins died.

“ETA?” he asked as he danced about, the giant Wolf chuckling at his dilemma. Even though he had resistances now, he still had no way to disperse the Spirit Wolves. Trying to attack the larger Wolf meant that he would be vulnerable to attacks, and he still didn’t know if the Wolf had developed any magic itself.

“Give or take five minutes,” she responded quickly.

“Shit,” he said as the Spirit Wolves closed in on him. “I’m repositioning until you get here.”

He tried to dive into the wall, but found that it had hardened, becoming wholly impenetrable.

“That’s not gonna work,” the Wolf Avatar chuckled out, a dark glow beginning on its front paws.

X jumped down wards and found that the floor was still soft, but there were only a couple of feet he could descend. A barrier? Just the floor and walls? Makes sense, but what if…

An idea formed as he kept dodging, spinning about agiley, oftentimes giving his back to the wolves as they lunged; his resistance strongest there. Dancing around the Spirit Wolves was a real challenge, but he eventually got past them and started running, which felt very weird with his clawed feet, sliding forward under the pounce of the Avatar wolf. He pushed up and eviscerated the Avatar with the spikes on his back. The obsidian armor didn’t cover his underbelly, and the momentum of its leap did X’s job for him. His only struggle was not getting buried beneath the collapsing Wolf’s form.

He tunneled downward and escaped from underneath the Wolf without hesitation, finding that the barrier had dissipated. He emerged from the ground several feet away and saw that the Spirit Wolves had disappeared. A bang rang out and then everything flashed.

Xavier looked at his watch and sighed, pulling another cigarette from his pocket and lighting it, drawing in a hit. "Really guys, it only took ten minutes to take care of all four of you. I didn't even get warmed up."