At dawn, only a handful of Reunion members stood guard before the General's Residence. Even then, their postures were sloppy and listless, showing little spirit. Those who remained behind in this war were not all elites. Some were opportunists, cowards who muddied through crises. Slick, seasoned survivors, they chose to give up and lie low amid the internal strife within Reunion.
The truly fanatical Infected and battle-crazed zealots had already rushed to Lungmen. Former subordinates of Mephisto were among them. After receiving Talulah's orders, they behaved like madmen, pounding their chests and boasting about slaughtering Lungmen's civilians. Talulah saw this and let them go.
As for Faust, who had been close to Mephisto, he quietly led his Phantom Crossbowmen toward Lungmen. He intended to rescue Mephisto from the city, but so far there had been no good news.
"Sigh, who knows how long this offensive will last."
"A few more days, maybe. Those adventurers will just keep throwing Originium bombs like they don't care about their lives."
"Hey, keep your voice down. Don't talk about adventurers. Did you forget that lunatic who ran his mouth about them and got beaten half to death by a few adventurers? If Reunion didn't forbid killing its own members, he'd probably be dead by now."
As the Infected whispered among themselves, a massive number of dark silhouettes quietly approached the General's Residence from behind them.
"Mr. Adventurer… are we really going to face Talulah head-on?"
There was a trace of hesitation in Alina's voice. She knew Talulah was no longer the person she used to be. Her cruelty and coldness felt alien and chilling. It was obvious she was being controlled. Were these adventurers not simply walking to their deaths?
Even if adventurers could revive after dying, Alina could not bear the thought of them experiencing that pain.
"This is the simplest, most direct method."
Mr. Han took a deep breath and looked toward Raph and Shroud in the distance. Each led their own group, their faces set with a resolve that looked ready to embrace death.
Alina glanced behind her at the determined faces of the Infected. These were the people Talulah had abandoned. They had once fought for Reunion and believed Talulah would bring a future for the Infected.
But that future was distant, almost unreachable. And Reunion's actions were no longer just or righteous.
The expected heavy security never appeared. Mr. Han, who maintained constant contact with the raid team and spies, knew that most red- and yellow-named Reunion players were in Lungmen. Kursk had effectively become an empty city.
Footsteps echoed at the entrance of the General's Residence. The gates stood wide open, as if waiting for them, or like a gaping maw ready to swallow them whole.
After silently taking down the guards, Mr. Han's gaze hardened. "This is the final boss of this floor."
"Final boss of a floor? That sounds like Sword Art Online."
"Wait, does Arknights even have a boss like Sword Art Online?"
Hundreds tasked with this boss raid advanced inside with steady steps. No one spoke another word.
Inside the General's Residence, Talulah raised her head. The being upon the throne slowly stirred awake. Her condition had not been good these days. That Sankta or Sarkaz? who had appeared out of nowhere had struck her with a brutal blow. The wound at her waist still had not healed and burned incessantly.
Yet it was not Talulah's body that burned, but her soul.
Damn it. Truly damn it. Where had such a being come from on this land? Had it crawled out of some ancient grave? Talulah frowned. That existence introduced a variable into her plans, one she could not control.
Which ancient race did that being belong to? Talulah touched the wound at her side. Black mist coiled around it, while blue flames gnawed at her soul, weakening her influence over Talulah with each passing moment. This was completely unforeseen.
A Diablo, perhaps? Talulah snorted softly. Among the Sarkaz, only Diablos wielded such terrifying fire. In her vast knowledge, their flames took countless forms, most notable for sheer destructive power. The fire that being wielded might well be capable of touching the soul itself.
The soul. She exhaled a breath of black mist. Soul-affecting wounds were troublesome, even for her.
But perhaps she would not come into direct conflict with that being again. Rolling her shoulders, Talulah stretched. Then, a curious smile spread across her face.
Within her sight, hundreds of armed adventurers had somehow already entered the main hall of the General's Residence. Their target was clear: the figure leaning against the throne.
Those resolute faces stirred her soul slightly. And when she saw Alina among them, anxious yet resolute, the pain in her soul surged, nearly beyond restraint.
"Is this really what you want, to abandon Reunion's so-called bright future?"
After the hoarse murmur faded, the internal struggle continued, though far weaker than before.
She reached for the longsword at her side. The flames surging around Talulah were no longer the black-red inferno of before, but a pure, absolute black, as if it devoured every shred of good and evil in the world alike. As the black flames roared upward, her dominant persona finally took control.
"Prepare to engage!"
Mr. Han roared, raising his sword high.
"Ohhhhh!"
This raid team was the result of careful selection. Most of those present possessed Originium Arts related to water or ice. At the very front stood heavily armored defenders wielding massive shields. As the casters behind them began chanting and the mechanical assistants activated, layers of shimmering barriers unfolded across the defenders' bodies.
"Charge!"
Someone bellowed, and dozens of adventurers split into squads, rushing toward Talulah. Their weapons glinted with icy light, what's funny is, some of them are carrying shovels as weapons, and the majority of them are Ursus players wearing uniforms with red accent, making this scene more surreal.
"Such foolish impulsiveness. I will bury you here."
Talulah sneered. Black flames surged from the ground, lunging at the adventurers like a monstrous dragon.
"Ahhh!"
Enduring the searing pain, Mr. Han silently thanked the game's reduced pain settings. Otherwise, this kind of burning would have been unbearable. Frost burst from his mechanical longsword, easing the agony, while healers behind him swiftly cast purification spells, dispelling the burning effects clinging to their bodies.
He swung his blade with all his strength at Talulah, only for it to be blocked by a wall of flame. Using the rebound, he leapt back as Xiao Ran Asagiri sprang forward, his long saber slamming into the fiery barrier. It was the familiar back-and-forth of a boss fight in Terra.
"How utterly irritating. Like flies."
Talulah shattered the incoming ice pillars with a wave of her hand, but torrents of water instantly surged around her ankles. As the flames flared, the water boiled into steam, severely limiting her vision.
Boom!
Talulah's eyes turned into pure black vortices. Violent black flames erupted from every inch of her body. Faced with this swarm-like assault, she was truly enraged.
Ten players too close were instantly burned down into respawn timers. The rest showed no sorrow, gripping their weapons and pressing forward once more.
"Tch…"
Talulah felt their sheer annoyance. She had heard of adventurers before, creatures chased around like stray dogs. Since when had they gained such power?
Whoever controlled the greater number of adventurers ruled Terra. Talulah bared her teeth in a cruel grin. The Pioneer, the King of Dawn, Felix the Liberator. When had he begun planning all of this?
Black flames surged higher. Above the General's Residence, a twisted black storm began to churn. Thunder rumbled, and the air grew unbearably hot.
No player spoke. They closed in again, relentlessly hurling skills and weapons at Talulah. Their tactics were meticulous. Whenever she attempted to grievously wound one of these insects, another immediately filled the gap the moment an opening appeared.
Power could not be compensated for by numbers.
Until a shell slammed into Talulah's flame barrier. The flames wavered for an instant. As three adventurers lunged, blades poised to pierce her chest, Talulah drew her sword for the first time.
A single horizontal sweep cut all three down midair, severing them at the waist. She narrowed her eyes and noticed hundreds of small, unfamiliar machines hovering above the General's Residence.
Before absolute power, everything was still insignificant.
The flames surged again. Drones were reduced to ash, along with dozens of players who had rushed in for close combat.
Mr. Han wiped the sweat from his face, his expression grim. Seeing his HP bar return to green, he finally exhaled, then glanced at Talulah's barely dented health bar and swallowed hard.
"Damn it! A boss with no weaknesses is brutal as hell!"
"She's spamming Originium Arts like this. She has to be burning through MP, right?"
Xiao Ran A spat on the ground.
"Not necessarily. Look closely. When has that flame shield ever dropped?"
Shroud leaned in and said in halting,gasping for breath, "Missiles. Openings. Counterattack."
Not far away, Raph was shouting something about the number one sword under heaven. Two drones rose again, launching missiles that briefly blasted the flame barrier apart. Dozens of burly fighters charged in, swinging axes and massive hammers, finally shaving Talulah's health down by a small margin.
"Wait, isn't Talulah's condition a bit off right now?"
Mr. Han, sharp-eyed as ever, noticed that the black mist wrapped around her side had dispersed. Blue flames flickered in and out of view.
"This… that's the wound left by the King of Dawn, right? It still hasn't healed. Hit her while she's weakened!"
With that, the drones took to the air again. Flames surged, players roared, and streams of water and ice crystals clashed endlessly with fire across the ground.
She had lost her patience. The pain buried deep in her mind was something she had to suppress, but these incessant attacks made it impossible to restrain the wound any longer. As blue flames gnawed at her soul, it felt as though her head were about to explode.
"Kill!"
Talulah's eyes were completely swallowed by black flames. She drew the sword at her side and slashed toward the players.
"Damn!"
"Block it!"
"She's too fast!"
Several players failed to react and were cut down instantly. The heavy defenders rushed to the front, but even they struggled to withstand two of Talulah's strikes. She did not bother to entangle herself with any single adventurer. One strike for this one, another strike for the next.
The players quickly shifted into a defensive formation. At that moment, the Reunion Infected who had not joined the siege until now stepped forward.
"Then kill me, Talulah!"
"You traitor to Reunion. So what if I die by your hand?"
"If we're dying, then we die together!"
Their equipment was poor. They refused the adventurers' offers and chose to fight with their own gear. Facing the rampaging Talulah, they displayed a courage they had never shown before, or perhaps one they had long buried deep in their hearts. Even when pierced through the chest by her sword, one Infected still clung tightly to her body. Even in death, his fingers burned black and charred, yet he never let go.
They stepped forward to embrace their deaths, some impassioned, others calm and resolute. Even the players' attempts to stop them could not halt their march. As charred bodies piled up at Talulah's feet, her sword began to slow.
Beneath the black flames that framed her eyes, mist spread. In the next instant, the flames dissipated, revealing dark pupils beneath. A single tear slid down her cheek and fell to the ground.
She pulled her sword free from the corpses.
She remembered. She could still recall every name. In the beginning, everyone had been full of confidence, believing she would bring a future to the Infected. For that belief, they had thrown themselves forward without hesitation. They had fought for Reunion. And now they lay quietly at her feet, some dying with resentment, others with faint smiles of contentment.
She saw Alina in her vision, tears welling in her eyes as she looked at her with a pleading gaze. Ah… why, Alina? My sins can never be repaid. What should I do now?
Black flames flared again along the blade. She gritted her teeth and stepped forward. She had to kill this woman who disrupted the core of her resolve. She had to destroy every terran connected to Talulah.
Those damned adventurers blocked her path once more. Talulah let out a roar and advanced toward Alina, sword raised, heedless of the cuts and gashes covering her body.
"Watch out!"
Mr. Han and Xiao Ran A stepped in front of her and were instantly engulfed by flames, their health bars emptied in a flash. Along with them, several high-level heavy defenders were sent into respawn timers as Talulah forced her way through in a bloody path.
Yet her movements grew slower, more hesitant, until she stood directly before Alina.
Alina was still crying as she looked at the friend who raised a sword against her.
She said nothing. She only smiled, softly and with relief, then took a step forward and placed herself into Talulah's embrace.
She gently wrapped her arms around her, feeling the heat of the flames and their fading, the trembling of her body, the dampness on her shoulders. In a quiet voice, she said,
"I've waited so long… Talulah. Welcome home."