Battle for the North (Rogue Merchant Book #4): LitRPG Series by Roman Prokofiev (best beach reads of all time .txt) 📗

“Fine. Start looking for candidates, preferably from the current team. As for selling the project, I’m waiting for your report. Contact Ivanov and Hoffner. I want to know their opinion on the situation. I’ll call you in a week. As for me, I’ll have a talk with the government people.”

Chapter 24

Australia, Sydney suburbs

EMERGENCY DISCONNECTION!

Forced shutdown activated! Warning: neurointerface will disconnect in 5 seconds!

4…3...2...1…

Phantom woke up and opened his eyes. The lid of his capsule slid upward, two disgruntled faces staring down at him from the bright gap. Black uniform, glossy caps, shining badges, and the words POLICE sewn above the right chest pocket... Phantom felt himself pulled out of the capsule, carefully but firmly, and cold metal touched his wrists.

After deftly locking the handcuffs, the policeman said, “Michael McNubb? You’re under arrest on suspicion of attempted murder.”

* * *

Sphere of Worlds, Astral Plane, Silver Stronghold

“Got everything, HotCat?” Svechkin asked. “Are you sure? No questions?”

I nodded in confirmation, looking around. Really, what was there to get? I was no stranger to this.

Romanova had probably expected this turn of events. The large hall on the lower level of the keep where they had installed the respawn circle taken from Atrocity was fortified in line with Absolute class that I, unfortunately, remembered from the Stronghold’s prison. Basically, it meant protection from everything, including divine-ranked entities. The rays of light passed through the small round windows and crossed on the resp point, currently covered by a cloud of impenetrable darkness.

I had been sent there at the strong urging of the First Maiden. In the coming battle, I would play the role of an ace in the hole. Despite all her bluster, Romanova was clearly afraid of Pandorum breaking into her precious Stronghold, taking great pains to prevent it.

The First Maiden waved her hand, and rainbow beads scattered on the floor, shimmering as they rolled. The second wave produced sundogs, slowly crawling around the circle. A short look, and the rays of pink light coming inside bloomed with living fire.

For me, the famed battle in the Astral Plane that entered all records of Sphere passed mostly in waiting mode. Thanks to a long-lasting Levitation spell, I was sent to the point just below the arched ceiling and thirty feet above the respawn circle. Of course, I was Veiled. Apparently, according to the First Maiden’s plan, I was supposed to fall on the attackers’ heads at the crucial moment and hack them to shreds with my flaming sword. Jeez.

The problems with that plan revealed themselves on the third minute after the assault began. Still, everything had begun quite dramatically.

Pandorum’s strike teams that entered the fortress via mass suicide were scarily competent. They were clearly commanded by a veteran RL with many captured castles under their belt. In an instant, the hall filled with players, tens and hundreds of them, and soon, the area below looked like a can packed with sardines. Despite the stampede, the enemies moved in a meaningful pattern, as if following a specific tactic.

Still, the Maidens’ defenses shocked even Pandorum’s experienced storm troopers. The round windows and the arched entrance were immediately blocked by a wall of roaring flame, sealing the room. The harmless rays of light coming from the “illuminators” around the resp point burst into flames, turning into pillars of fire that incinerated everyone who appeared inside the circle. With a loud rumbling, the crushed rainbow beads turned into crystalline golems that started crushing enemies left and right, while “fireflies” transformed into energy staves that annihilated everyone within range. Svechkin added even more chaos by putting on a shuriken show, and flying squads of Maidens furiously attacked the assailants using their Veils.

Pandas, rapidly falling to Svechkin’s throwing stars, set off some legendary or divine gadget. It looked like a blinding supernova, a blazing sphere of sunlight growing and consuming everything around it at incredible speed. Everyone in the room died immediately, including the Maidens, the golems, the Pandas themselves, and me. The Gravekeeper, that sly dog, was the only one to survive. I don’t know how the First Maiden blocked that spell, but the entire hall turned black, covered with scorch marks. The winged masks on the walls melted down, and piles of gear lost by the players cluttered the floor.

The logs listed that spell as Sun’s Kiss, and on top of damage, it had burned down half of my stuff. All equipment was at zero durability, and even if my power didn’t depend on it, that fact wasn’t making me any more confident. As a ghost, I stood among hundreds of Panda spirits in the center of the resp point, waiting for the show to go on.

Our coalition’s voice channel was the only source of information about the events outside the Stronghold. Alongside the curt commands of raid leaders and scout reports, I could feel optimism and excitement. The triumphant cries and comments informed me about the arrival of a large allied fleet and the start of a massive battle involving almost five hundred astral ships.

The Pandas spent unreasonably long in a stupor. The second attempt at attack started twenty minutes after the first. Once again, they revived all at once and ran from the resp point. This time, however, they knew what awaited them and started out pretty well. Yes, the defense systems were still killing them by the dozen, and the Gravekeeper, surrounded with a Maiden escort, relaunched his deadly wheel of True Fire, but there were too many of them. The Pandas simply used their numbers to crush everything in their path.

The crystalline golems crumbled one after another. Valkyries were sent to be reborn, and citadel guards fell, surrounded. Pandas filled almost the entire hall, fiercely trying to break through. Their push was so strong that it seemed all but unstoppable.

The walls of flame around the entrance and