The enemy's relentless harassment had crippled the attackers' mining operations, severely bottlenecking their resource production. Under normal circumstances, those resources would have gone toward building barracks and upgrading troop tiers. Instead, the guild was forced to hemorrhage materials researching and crafting stealth-detection items.
By the time Kael logged back in, the anti-stealth tech had finished researching. A perimeter of players guarded the builder NPCs as they deployed the devices, finally illuminating the various mining camps. But detection alone wasn't enough; they still had to commit substantial manpower to garrison the nodes.
The new detection wards paid off immediately, slaughtering two waves of enemy Rogues. Realizing the jig was up, the surviving gankers vanished into the shadows, biding their time. Since no one knew where they would strike next, Starlight Town had to spread their defenses thin across every critical chokepoint. Furthermore, to counter any potential upgrades to the enemy's stealth capabilities, they had to keep funneling time and resources into the anti-stealth tech tree. It was a massive resource drain, but they had no choice.
Upon logging in, Kael immediately met with Lila. She briefed him on the stalemate and relayed SkyVault's idea. "Can you fly to their western rear and cause some chaos?"
Kael nodded. It aligned perfectly with his own plan. He might not have the macro-tactical genius to command a ten-thousand-man army, but he was a master at being a complete menace behind enemy lines.
Noting the exhaustion etched into Lila's face, Kael's tone softened. "Log off. Grab some food and get some rest. There won't be any large-scale movements for a while. I'll handle the sabotage."
"Alright. Call me if anything goes wrong," Lila agreed, before logging off.
Very few players knew Kael had the ability to fly. Aside from Lila, Hazel, and the top guild leaders of Starlight Town, it was a closely guarded secret. The only time he had ever taken to the skies in public was during his escape from the Plague-Heart Mandrill. Back then, he had used Apollo's Descent to soar back to Stormhold, but the general player base assumed it was a scripted sequence for a unique quest. Nobody suspected he actually owned a permanent flight item.
Slipping away to a secluded spot, Kael equipped his [Faerie Wings] and activated them. He launched into the air, rapidly ascending until he was nothing more than a tiny black speck. To anyone glancing upward, he was just a piece of ambient skybox decoration.
Hovering high above the war zone, Kael had a god’s-eye view of the enemy's layout. Troop deployments, player clusters, tent formations, and resource nodes were laid bare beneath him. The only blind spot was the Eastern Forest, which was shrouded in an impenetrable canopy of darkness. Kael activated his system interface and recorded a high-definition video of the entire enemy base.
Moments later, he reached the airspace above the western rear. It looked like any standard rural settlement—rolling farmland, meadows, and orchards. Scattered among the greenery were hastily erected supply tents and logistics structures: lumber mills, waterwheels, and clusters of worker NPCs.
Down below, nestled at the base of the western cliff, a large group of enemy players was gathered along the riverbank. Assuming the attackers were still turtling in their base and a frontline clash was hours away, these players had slacked off and formed small groups to go fishing.
"You guys think Dawnbreaker and Crimson Bloom are going to steamroll us again?" one player asked.
"Hard to say. Dawnbreaker is way too OP," another replied.
"I wouldn't be so sure," a third chimed in. "I heard a rumor that The WarChief unlocked a special military unit designed specifically to counter him."
"Bullshit. You really think some NPC unit can take down that freak?"
"At the end of the day, he's just a player. If the system wants to hard-counter someone, it easily can."
"Fair point."
"Well, hearing that actually gives me some hope. Maybe we won't get wiped after all."
"Yeah, it's still anyone's game."
"Exactly. Oh—hey, I got a bite!"
"Reel it in! Don't let it snap the line!"
A Tauren player yanked his fishing rod hard. Whether the fish was simply too high-level or his fishing skill was too low, the line abruptly gave way with a sharp snap.
With a heavy thud, the Tauren fell flat on his ass. The immense force of his pull whipped the empty hook flying backward.
"Damn it! Horrible RNG," the Tauren grumbled, dusting himself off. "I bet that fish had a loot box in its belly. Probably could've rolled some gear."
Still complaining, he began reeling in the slack to re-bait his line. Suddenly, the line pulled taut. He'd snagged something behind him. He gave the rod two hard yanks, but the line wouldn't budge. Annoyed, he turned around.
A figure stood directly behind him, with tiny red numbers floating above their head.
-1
-1
"Crap, hooked another player." The Tauren scrambled to his feet, ready to apologize. He realized his stray hook was lodged squarely in the stranger's nose. However, instead of raging, the man calmly unhooked himself, offering the Tauren a warm, polite smile.
The Tauren breathed a sigh of relief. Thank god. Finally, a reasonable player who doesn't immediately toxic-rage.
But as he bowed his head to apologize, he noticed something incredibly out of place. "Wait... you're a human?"
Why was there a human player in the Horde's starting village?
The surrounding beast-race players overheard and turned their heads. One of them squinted, eyeing the stranger's distinct gear. "That bow... that armor... wait a second..."
"Dawnbreaker?!"
"Holy shit, it's him!"
"What the hell is he doing back here?!"
Panic erupted across the riverbank.
Kael was a guest in their territory, and as a guest, he knew the importance of basic etiquette. He offered the terrified locals a polite wave and a warm greeting: "[Phantom Barrage]!"
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
A blinding rain of arrows instantly shredded the riverbank, leaving a glowing carpet of corpses in its wake. The survivors scattered in sheer terror, scrambling frantically in every direction.
"Running away from a guest? Where is your hospitality?" Kael tsked playfully. He summoned his three clones, and the four of them split up, fanning out to chase down the fleeing players.
Not a single player who had witnessed his arrival escaped the massacre. Their final, blood-curdling screams echoed through the zone chat: "Dawnbreaker is in the base!!!"
Having cleared the immediate area, Kael and his clones casually strolled toward the heart of the village. He didn't bother micro-managing his summons; he simply set them to "Move Forward" and "Auto-Attack." Anything that entered their aggro radius—players, NPCs, livestock, it didn't matter. Wherever Kael and his clones walked, they left a wake of mangled bodies and agonizing wails.
In a matter of minutes, the entire western front was plunged into the terrifying shadow of the server's most ruthless executioner.