Second World Online

The system announcement that filled the sky with silver-blue light acted like an absolute spell that halted all hostility in the Ironhold valley area. The zone around the courtyard and castle gate was automatically converted into a Post-War Safe Zone by the system, ensuring that no more cowardly bloodshed could occur after the official winner had been determined.

From my position near the ruins of the melted gate, I observed the movements of the sea of black-armored players and the wolf-banner troops.

Instead of activating Return Scrolls to retreat and lick their wounds at their headquarters or logging out in shame, the thousands of Ouroboros and Black Wolf members hurriedly pivoted their formations. Their combat commanders shouted new orders through the regional communication channels.

"Don't waste time! Ironhold Castle is already lost! Turn the troops around! We move south toward Mistveil Castle and north to Sunspire Castle!"

Hearing those instructions, the thousands of players who had been hanging their heads in dejection suddenly regained a spark of spirit. They ran to form long columns moving away from this valley.

I narrowed my eyes, watching their maneuver. Of course. This Castle Siege Event opened the contest for three giant fortresses simultaneously. Elsewhere, battles were surely still raging intensely.

In the standard design of MMORPGs created by the Chronos Tech developers, bringing down a castle gate without massive heavy siege equipment was supposed to take hours. Players were meant to drain each other's resources, climb walls with ladders, or infiltrate using clandestine tactics while their Vanguards slowly chipped away at the steel gate's HP. No wonder the other two castles still stood firm and no conquest announcements had appeared up to this second. The damage from normal players, even from elite squads, would never be enough to dismantle an Enchanted Black Steel gate in less than an hour.

The only anomaly that caused Ironhold to fall this quickly was the existence of a deranged Alchemist who decided to ignore the in-game combat mechanics and instead used the pure physics of a plasma jet to melt the steel from within.

"They're still hungry to chase the remaining two castles, huh," Yuna muttered beside me, resting her large axe on the ground.

I nodded, folding my arms across my chest. "Of course. Tonight's war isn't truly over for them. But for the Knights of the Round, this single castle is more than enough to secure the economic foundation and monopoly over the central territory's mines. Being greedy and trying to take two castles at once would only split the Guild's defenses and make them easy to sabotage."

Yuuki, who was sitting casually cleaning residual dust from her white fur with her small tongue, looked up at me. "So… is our work here finished, Sis?"

"It is, little fox. Let's go inside and greet the new ruler before we leave," I answered.

The five of us stepped across the threshold of the Ironhold gate. An extraordinary heat still radiated from the pools of molten iron that were slowly cooling and hardening into jagged black metal slag on the rocky ground. The sharp smell of burnt metal pierced the nose, forcing Lumina to cover hers with the edge of her silk robe while Flora hid behind Lumina's Elf ear.

The castle courtyard was now filled with the uproar of thousands of Knights of the Round players cheering in celebration of victory. Some were recovering HP, while others hugged each other and took photos against the backdrop of the fortress towers.

As we walked through the crowd, the silver-armored knights immediately made way. The gazes they directed at me and the others were not mere respect, but a mixture of admiration and almost religious awe. They had all witnessed with their own eyes how the five of us had flattened hundreds of elite players in that narrow gate gap alone.

We arrived at the central section of the Main Tower. In that giant chamber, a blue crystal the size of a human body floated above a stone altar. That was the Castle Core. Around it, the holographic management interface (UI) of the castle was wide open.

In the middle of that sea of blue panels stood Arthur.

However, unlike the image of a king who had just won an epic war, Arthur's face at that moment looked very far from happy. The silver-armored man was vigorously massaging the bridge of his nose, his jaw clenched, and his eyes stared at the system screen with an expression of extraordinary dizziness. His vice-commander stood beside him with a face that was no less pale.

"What's going on here? Shouldn't a newly crowned king be drinking victory wine?" I greeted with a casual mocking tone.

Arthur looked up. The moment he saw me, he let out a long breath that sounded like a frustrated groan.

"Oh, our White General has arrived," Arthur complained, pointing at the floating interface in front of him. "Drink wine? I need real-world headache medicine more right now. Do you know what I'm looking at, Syl?"

I walked closer and glanced at the holographic screen. It was the [Castle Maintenance & Upgrades] panel. In the Main Gate status section, bright red text blinked: [DESTROYED / UNREPAIRABLE].

"Looks like the repair bill, huh?" I guessed with a restrained crooked smile.

"This isn't a repair bill, Syl! This is a rebuild-from-scratch bill!" Arthur snapped in frustration, though his eyes still held restrained amusement. "The Castle Siege system is designed so that the attacking side 'damages' the gate until its HP reaches zero, and after the castle is captured, the new owner can 'repair' that gate with a certain amount of gold coins and materials. But what you did earlier… you didn't reduce the gate's HP. You erased it from the system's coding existence!"

Yuna and Lumina exchanged glances and held back laughter, while Yuuki was already wagging all three of her tails and giggling.

Arthur rubbed his face. "The system panel is telling me that 'gate structure is not detected. Please contact a Master Carpenter and Master Blacksmith to produce a new gate'. Do you know how much it costs to forge two gate leaves of Enchanted Black Steel from scratch? Hundreds of pure gold coins! I bet the GMs at the Chronos Tech office are face-palming themselves tonight because of your exploit."

I could only shrug innocently, stroking the clean collar of my military uniform. "Hey, you were the one who asked me to open the path. I gave you a hole large enough for two thousand people to pass through. Besides, without that Breaching Charge, your troops might still be banging on the gate until tomorrow morning, and Ouroboros would have already flanked you from behind."

𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Arthur fell silent, then his shoulders shook. He finally burst into loud laughter, realizing how absurd the situation was. The laughter echoed through the throne room.

"You're right. You're completely right, Syl. Losing one steel gate is a very cheap price to pay for seizing the best fortress on this continent," Arthur smiled widely, clapping my shoulder hard (which thankfully dealt no damage because I was still in the Guild alliance). "Thank you. You truly became a guardian angel from hell for the Knights of the Round tonight. Your masterpiece tonight will be written into the history of Second World Online."

I gently brushed his hand off my shoulder. "I'm not anyone's guardian angel, Art. I was only protecting my future economic investment. And speaking of that…"

I opened my system interface, bringing up the Party/Guild management screen.

"My task here is finished," I said in a professional tone. "According to our initial agreement, I only provided assistance to breach and hold the gate tonight. Now it's time for the Alchemist to return to her independent roots."

Arthur nodded understandingly. There was no disappointment on his face, because he knew my limits extremely well. Binding me into a permanent Guild was impossible; my soul was far too free and far too dangerous to be confined within a military command structure.

"Of course," Arthur replied, touching his own screen.

Ting! [System Notification: Guild Master 'Arthur' has ended the contract with 'Syl'.]

[Title 'Elite Mercenary - Knights of the Round' has been removed from your profile.]

[You are now a Solo Player / Factionless.]

The blue glow that marked the alliance on my name immediately faded. I returned to being a neutral entity in the middle of a castle filled with thousands of Knights of the Round members.

"If you ever need a supply of explosives or armor-piercing arrows, you know where to send the order, Lord of the Realm," I gave a slight bow, offering a theatrical farewell in the style of an elite mercenary.

Arthur smiled. "Be careful when you leave this castle, Syl. After what you did, Ouroboros might put a giant bounty on the heads of the five of you."

"Let them," I chuckled softly. "That will only bring more free loot materials to the front of my shop. Come on, girls. Time for us to go home."

I signaled with my head to Yuna, Yuuki, Lumina, and Flora.

"Teleport: StoneBrook City."

Five pillars of blue light swallowed us simultaneously, pulling us out of the euphoria and the remnants of Arthur's headache in Ironhold Castle, returning us to the capital of beginners.

When we materialized in the main square of StoneBrook, the city showed no signs of sleeping, even though the in-game time was already past midnight.

The atmosphere was actually far livelier than usual. The square was packed with players crowding around the main bulletin board. They shouted at each other, reading live updates from the forums synchronized with the virtual world. News of Ironhold's fall in less than one hour and the appearance of the "Fox Fire Pillar" and "Sulfur Artillery" had spread like fire across dry grassland.

"Ironhold fell first?! I heard Ouroboros retreated in an orderly fashion without conditions!"

"There's a rumor that the steel gate wasn't destroyed, but MELTED!"

"Who did that?! It's impossible for a Siege Weapon that large to exist at this stage!"

The five of us walked casually through the crowd, hiding our identities as best we could. I had pulled the hood of my white mantle cloak to cover my silver hair. Yuna stored her giant shield. Yuuki used a basic illusion to hide two of her three tails so she would look like an ordinary white pet fox.

"Hearing them talk about us feels a little ticklish," Lumina whispered with a shy smile, tightly gripping her magic staff.

Flora flew cheerfully around Lumina's head. "We're the heroes of tonight! Eh, correction, we're their nightmare tonight!"

"So, where are we going to eat?" Yuna asked, holding her stomach that suddenly let out a soft growl. Our Satiety bars had indeed dropped far after exhausting so much stamina and Mana on the battlefield earlier.

"How about the 'Red Dragon Tavern' again, Sis Syl?" Yuuki suggested with sparkling, hopeful eyes, imagining juicy wyvern-tail steak. "My balance is pretty good from looting the enemy player corpses earlier!"

I shook my head. "No need. Five-star NPC taverns like the Red Dragon charge ridiculous prices because they sell extreme buffs that last for hours for combat. Tonight, our battle is already over. We don't need HP or magic attribute buffs. We just need delicious food and a pleasant atmosphere to celebrate our small victory."

"Teacher is right," Yuna nodded in agreement. "Wasting dozens of gold coins just for buffs that will be wasted when we log out later is a waste."

"I know a suitable place!" Lumina exclaimed enthusiastically. The gentle Elf pointed toward a side path lined with hanging lanterns at the edge of the Commercial District. "There's a tavern completely run by players with the Chef profession. It's called The Wandering Boar. Their cooking is very famous on the forums because the taste is nearly 100% identical to real-world food! The buffs are small, but the price is very reasonable only using silver coins."

"Sounds perfect. Lead the way, Miss Healer," I invited.

We followed the cobblestone path illuminated by the warm glow of magic lamps. The Wandering Boar was a very spacious two-story wooden building with architecture resembling a classic European Tavern. The aroma of roasted meat coated in butter and black pepper sauce immediately greeted us even before we pushed open the wooden door.

Once inside, a warm and pleasantly noisy atmosphere was immediately felt. Dozens of players sat at round tables, laughing, drinking virtual wheat beer, and exchanging stories about their hunting experiences. There was no inter-Guild political tension here. Only ordinary players enjoying the freedom of the virtual world.

We found a large empty round wooden table in a corner near the brick fireplace. The position was very comfortable and slightly hidden from the direct view of the crowd.

Yuuki, in her fox form, immediately jumped onto one of the wooden chairs, placing both front paws on the table like a human customer waiting for the menu.

"I want a large portion of grilled beef! And warm milk!" Yuuki ordered energetically, her tails wagging excitedly.

Yuna took the seat beside Yuuki. "One small cask of honey Ale for me, and spicy orc meat skewers."

Lumina and Flora sat across from them, ordering chamomile herbal tea and a large fragrant slice of blueberry pie.

I sat in the last chair, leaning back relaxed. My white mantle cloak reflecting the fireplace light slightly attracted the attention of the neighboring table, but they were too busy chatting to care about the details. I only ordered a cup of black coffee and a bowl of thick corn cream soup. In the real world, my tongue had already grown numb to the bland hospital food; enjoying the strong flavors of coffee and butter in the virtual world was a luxury of its own.

It did not take long for the player waiters to deliver our orders. Our wooden table was instantly filled with large plates of delicious food steaming with aroma.

Yuuki did not waste time. She lowered her snout and began chewing her grilled meat greedily yet cutely, making Yuna laugh while sipping her honey Ale from a giant wooden mug.

"This is for Teacher Syl," Yuna raised her mug high, her scaled face flushed from the warm effect of the virtual alcohol. "Tonight you proved that brains and accuracy can defeat tens of thousands of muscles! Long live the White Commander!"

"Long live Sis Syl!" Yuuki barked with her mouth full of meat.

"Cheers to Teacher!" Lumina and Flora raised their teacups as well.

I smiled faintly, lifting my coffee cup and gently clinking it against Yuna's large mug.

"Cheers to the '5 Beautiful Girls'. The strongest death squadron ever born from pure coincidence," I replied softly, before sipping my bitter yet satisfying black coffee.

Amid the lively music from a Bard player plucking a lute in the corner of the tavern, and the free laughter of my party companions, I felt a strange peace.

A few hours ago, I was merely a young man locked in a wheelchair, feeling powerless as I stared at the evening sky in the real world. But tonight, under the identity of an Albino Elf girl in a military uniform, I had manipulated the market, melted the arrogance of the largest Guilds, brought down an impregnable fortress, and now celebrated victory together with the digital family I cherished deeply.

The leukemia might be waiting to gnaw at me in the real world tomorrow. But tonight, in Second World Online, I was a hero living fully. And no one, neither enemy nor fate, could take this moment away from me.