Second World Novel

Tip couldn’t help but turn to John with wide eyes after hearing John’s words. That lady in the projection who was the enemy’s strategist was John’s mother?

“Do you forget already what I taught you?” Linda continued her sermon. “Knowledge and smartness are two different things. A strategist required both to succeed. Knowledge provides us with arsenals. The more knowledgeable we are, the more options are available for us to use. Smart is how we used that knowledge. No matter how smart you are, if you don’t have enough knowledge, your options will be limited. Just like how you lose this time. You lost because you have no knowledge of the tool we used.”

John picked one of his ears with his finger and said, “You are making my ears hurt with all this preaching.”

“I say this for your own good. Just as what I’m doing now is for your good. You will thank me later. When I have a piece of this world that I can share with you, you will see the fruit of my labors.”

“Mm…,” John turned to Tip and looked at the projection above the guild army command platform.

Seeing that her son didn’t give her any response, she said sternly, “Give it up, John. Your army’s loss is just a matter of time. You already lose half of your force. You should cut your losses and surrender! Move aside and give us the draconian queen. Better yet, persuade that pig-headed king of Themisphere to agree to become our vassal state. We will let him continue to rule that country as long as he listened to Master’s orders.”

John chuckled. “That’s funny. He never wanted to be a king. It’s because of you, people, that he agreed to become one.”

“So, what’s it gonna be?” Linda asked. She was getting tired of persuading.

“Hey. Guess what, Mom,” John said with a chuckle. “That thing you said about how it was my fault for having no knowledge of the tool you used. Well, two can play that game. I think I will be able to say the same thing to you in a few moments. Uh… Then again, I think I won’t be able to because you will be busy running away. Well, it has been nice talking to you.”𝗇𝞸𝓥𝖊𝔩𝞰𝔢xt.𝗰𝗈𝕞

“What do you mean? Why will I be running… What?!” Linda suddenly looked to her left. She was seemingly listening to someone, but John and Tip couldn’t see whom she was talking to because the projection only showed Linda’s figure.

Linda then looked up to the sky. Her eyes were wide. She turned back at John and exclaimed, “You…!!”

“Better run now, Mom,” John said and waved at her. She then shot a mana bullet at the device on the ground. The device broke and Linda’s projection vanished.

John turned to Tip and said, “Be ready to counterattack.”

“O… kay…,” Tip said. He guessed it was not the time to discuss John’s family matters.

*

Back on the other side of the Daboga marshland. Linda, Motherboard, and Lead Designer were with a group of native soldiers. This was their temporary command station where they set up the war table and the guild army command platforms.

The area on this other side of the marshland was the safest because of the same thinking the enemy originally had. The terrains were untraversable except through the road by the cliffs.

Linda had stationed soldiers at some of the corners on that road. If anyone tried to come to this side to find their command station, they would get ambushed by those soldiers. She was using the same choke point strategy John was using earlier.

None of those soldiers stationed on the roads encountered any advancing enemies, so she had been confident the enemy didn’t suspect they left their command station on this side.

However, at this moment in the sky, she saw a group of people flying toward them. These people were using some kind of small-sized hang gliders.

After they saw those people, the projection on her war table also registered these people’s presence. This group flying in the sky was registered as red dots. They were enemies.

“Defensive formation!!” Linda yelled her order. She also sent commands to the groups that were guarding the road beside the cliffs to rush back here.

“What should we do?” Motherboard asked.

“It’s fine. The enemies are not too many. We have more soldiers and many are special units. We will be fine,” Linda assured.

The group in the sky didn’t look to be more than fifty people, while she had almost one thousand soldiers here protecting the command station. If the groups on the road by the cliffs arrived back here, she would have twenty thousand troops.

Out of the one thousand troops, half was a collection of dread knights, ghost mages, celestial knights, and empyrean priests. The rests were standard units. Unfortunately, she didn’t post any high-level officers. All of those officers were on the main battlefield on the other side of the marshland.

*

Up in the sky, the group of people on hang gliders looked at the battalion of soldiers below. This battalion was forming a protective circle. The war table and the guild army command platforms were at the center of this protective circle.

“The enemy command station is truly here,” The Man remarked.

“You doubt our strategist?” Jet asked.

“Okay, folks. Our job is that war table and the guild army command platforms, or whoever is controlling them,” Domon uttered. “Our friends depend on us. We cannot fail them!”

“Yes, master!” They all exclaimed at the same time.

“Master, let me spearhead and open the way,” Leavemealone volunteered.

Domon nodded. “You will be most suitable for that job.”

These fifty people here traveled using the hang gliders, which were consumables crafted from the war tool recipe Jack got from the Ykos, the satyr elder from the underworld.

These hang gliders required rather rare resources so they could only craft a limited number. They only had enough for fifty players to bring two gliders for each person. One for going to the enemy’s command center, the other to be used for a return trip once the mission was over.

Hence, John chose the most elite fighters he had for this sneak attack plan. He deduced the enemies most likely left their command station on the other side of this marshland where his force would have difficulty getting to. However, the enemy didn’t know he had these hang gliders.

Domon and the others had flown from the far side of the cliffs to avoid detection. They then swept along the other side of the land. They finally found their prey after spending some time flying.

When they approached, the archer and the mage units started throwing their range attacks up there. Their hang gliders had a maximum altitude. They couldn’t fly too high, but it was still high enough that most range attacks were unable to reach their height. Some did, though, these were the attacks sent by the ghost mages.

These ghost mages could even cast AOE spells that caused damage in a large range. Their hang gliders were not durable tools. If the spells persist, they would all fall.

Seeing that, Leavemealone let go of his hang gliders. He freefell right toward the mass of soldiers on the ground. On his way down, he transformed into White Tiger Emperor. At the same time, a flame suit covered his body followed by the appearance of twenty large fireballs.