The sun cast its rays over one of Yarum's green fields, specifically in a place full of warriors and knights. Some were shouting, others sat talking. The place was calm and far from the war—though not too far, the palace had fallen, and the flags of Talvan and Deryal now flew above it. After the last battle, the allied troops had settled there.
"Bring the wood here! We need to raise it higher!" Vinnel shouted at some knights carrying massive wooden beams.
"What are you doing?" Sabrina asked.
"We're building a fort. We have to fortify this place or the enemy will advance further. Has the king heard about the palace falling?"
"Yes, it seems the council was shocked, and reinforcements will arrive soon."
Far from the fort construction, inside one of the camp tents, the three heroes were sitting. Laos stared at the table, Stephanie was playing with a cat, and Tom was waving his sword around. Each of them seemed lost in thought, but not all were thinking the same thing. Even defeat hadn't united their minds—each one still had different goals and thoughts.
"Man, our battle was easy. I thought we'd be back quickly to help you guys. But how did you lose that fast?" Tom said.
"Do you know how many of them there were? They were twice our number," Laos replied.
"Even so, if I were in your place, we would've won."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean I would've crushed those soldiers easily."
"Then show me now. Go and free the palace."
"I've already surpassed this whole team, so there's no point in diving into side quests."
Fuck you, he just made a move I never expected. I didn't think he was thinking that way. So all this time, he too wanted to get the top rank. Now my true rival has been born. A rival whose goal I understand well. I've felt that same desire back in Yavan—not as strong as before, but still powerful. I want to reach rank one.
And about his claim of surpassing us—this fucker must have been calculating everything, doing whatever he needed to rise above. All this time, his goal was to progress. We had the same goal, but it seems he got ahead of me. Great. I've only found trouble with Tom so far—how the hell am I supposed to surpass Linda? It feels impossible.
"Good morning," said Thalesa suddenly.
"You got a new form, didn't you?" I asked.
"You're excited, huh? Hold on—tell me what happened."
"They occupied the palace, and now we're camping far away from it. Also, what's going on with you? I mean… you've been sleeping a lot. You started doing that after the fight with Slytha."
"Because that fight changed everything. After you killed her with Astral Sword, I absorbed an insane amount of power, and I haven't fully processed it yet. So I started, hmm… you could say I started 'eating' it little by little. I can't take it all at once. Adapting to such massive power makes you sleepy. Got it?"
"Ooooh, I see, I see. So what about the new form?"
"You want to try it inside the tent?"
Suddenly, while I was talking with Thalesa, several knights entered, along with Vinnel. Some were carrying wood. What's going on? The cat on Stephanie's lap jumped off, startled by the sudden intrusion. Man, this is insane—feels like I'm in prison.
"We need two people—one to guard the fort and the other to help with the construction," Vinnel said.
"I'll guard!" I raised my hand quickly. Good—I beat Tom to it.
"Then I'll help with the construction," Tom muttered.
We left the tent. Outside, the place was chaotic. Soldiers were building a wooden fort to protect the camp. What's the point of building a fort to protect the camp? I don't see how it could help us, especially when magic exists. Is that one-eyed guy even sane? One magic ball and it'll all collapse. Oh, Sabrina is here too. When will she reveal her identity? Her presence is starting to worry me.
"Hey, what's the point of a wooden fort? They'll break it easily," I said.
"We'll reinforce it with magic. Did you think we'd just leave chunks of wood to protect us? Besides, the point isn't protecting the camp—it's to show the enemy that we're fortified, that new borders have been drawn," Vinnel answered.
Right now, my goal is to surpass Tom. To do that, I need to accomplish something in this war. As things stand, my achievements can't compare to his. So I need to make some solid progress—maybe retake the palace? I probably can't do that alone, but I need to be the main contributor. Yeah, freeing the palace sounds like the best option to get ahead.
Also, I didn't think I'd be this weak. I found out that without Astral Sword, I'm really nothing. And Thalesa is sleeping more and more now, which is definitely a bad sign. If I die here, it'll be a huge disgrace. I can't lose this competition. I've done crazier things before—so failing here wouldn't make sense.
Look at me—an NPC now competing and defeating some of the strongest creatures. That's truly insane. Just thinking about it makes me happy. I mean, remembering that you're an NPC while being compared to people with better classes like Knight and Hero—that's wild. But without Astral Sword, I'd really be just an NPC. I wouldn't be able to do anything.
◆ ◆ ◆
The Yarum soldiers continued building the fort. It wasn't finished yet, but the work was ongoing and serious. They never stopped—not even under the blazing sun. Some rested in tents when tired, others lay on the cool grass under the trees' shade. And of course, the knights drank eagerly from exhaustion. Their work was truly tough—especially because it was taken seriously.
The love Yarum's soldiers had for their kingdom had become clear. No one slacked off or refused orders. Everyone worked together toward a common goal—or rather, common goals under one big title: Victory for Yarum. That was patriotism—walking a unified path. And it was something our heroes lacked right now. No patriotism. No shared direction.
As the soldiers kept working, suddenly the sound of footsteps rose. Everyone ran to see what was happening. Enemy banners appeared—those of the white rose and the black crown. The allied army approached the still-unfinished fort. Panic hit the soldiers. They didn't understand what was happening. An attack like this was completely unexpected—they thought the enemy's expansion would take more time. But it seemed the allied army didn't care about expansion. All they wanted was war.
"MAGES!!!!!" Vinnel suddenly shouted.
But before the mages could shield the fort, one of the enemy mages, Lumis, launched a massive rock ball. However, it was sliced clean in half by a water slash. That's when Laos stepped forward—Tom too. When the allied army saw them coming, they advanced, and Lumis backed away, hiding behind his forces.
The two heroes clashed with the army. Laos unleashed rapid slashes that cut down anyone who came near him. As for Tom, he moved like a shadow, slicing off heads as usual. The allied forces found themselves in serious trouble against them. Laos was fighting like a madman, like a beast, showing no mercy. It was clear his desire to surpass the others was burning bright—so much so that he killed more soldiers than Tom.
"Aqua Rains!!!" shouted Laos, raising his sword high.
Sharp rain poured down. Some drops pierced soldiers' eyes, others slashed their faces. At that moment, Tom seized the opportunity, cutting heads and landing deadly stabs. They looked like demons—hard to believe they were once just high schoolers. The extent of the change this world had caused in them was clearly visible in that moment.
"Cutter!" Tom shouted as he pulled his sword back.
Waves of slashes shot out, and bodies flew through the air as blood gushed out. Blood—so much blood. Laos and Tom were soaked in the enemy's blood. It was a terrifying sight. After a while of brutal fighting, when the allied army realized how bad the situation was, Lumis stepped forward and launched another rock ball—this time much faster. But the fort was now reinforced.
"Fall back!" Vinnel shouted.
Suddenly, the fort collapsed. The impact was powerful, and the magical barrier didn't hold. It seemed the spell was far too strong. When the fort fell, everyone was in shock—all that effort, gone! It was nothing now but a pile of shattered wood scattered everywhere. Nothing remained. The allied army had succeeded in achieving yet another blow.
"Their reinforcements have arrived!!!" one of the allied knights shouted.
With that, they all retreated, leaving behind only the Yarum forces and their shattered fort. Everyone collapsed to the ground from exhaustion and disappointment. Laos and Tom returned to the camp, having failed to protect the fort. Everyone wore the same expression—faces full of despair, and maybe a loss of drive. It seemed that failure after failure was beginning to take a heavy toll on Yarum's soldiers.
Vinnel headed to the largest tent in the camp after summoning some key individuals: Laos, Tom, Stephanie, Sabrina, and a few analysts. They all sat around a round table, unsure of the meeting's purpose. A plan? A breakdown? A discussion? No one knew what would come after the chaos they'd just been through.
"There's a spy in this camp," Vinnel suddenly said.
"What?" Laos responded.
"I believe so. It feels like someone told them to halt their expansion and strike the fort instead," one of the analysts added.
"Oh come on, what's with the drama? Maybe they just wanted to sabotage the fort," someone said.
"No, it's not that simple. Our scouts reported that after the enemy took the palace, they began expanding—which is natural. Anyone would do that after a victory. And such expansion usually lasts more than a day, depending on how much land they're claiming. In our case, it should've taken them over four days. It's unthinkable they'd launch an attack during this critical period. The risk of losing newly claimed territory is too high. That's what we believed would happen." one of the analysts explained.
"No, we didn't believe it—that was what would have happened… if the spy hadn't told them to attack." Vinnel replied.
"And didn't you notice what they shouted at the end? 'Their reinforcements have arrived!' How would they know? And no reinforcements came. They said that to trick us—to make us think their goal wasn't to destroy the fort and flee. They wanted us to believe it was the start of another battle. But now it's clear what their real goal was…"
"That's why, here in this camp… there's a spy among us."
It seems things are leaning toward chaos, even in the far east. This information leak raised suspicions in both Vinnel and the analysts. So now it appears there really is a spy—a spy of unknown identity, feeding information to the allied army. If that's true, things could spiral into total chaos—especially if the spy isn't uncovered soon. And so, tension rises in the far east… as the roses begin to bloom.