Second World

Jack rented an inn for the day. Easycome kept his promise and came to the inn a few hours past noon. He took out a stack of papers from his inventory. The papers contained all the information recorded by the authority regarding the serial killings.

Jack thanked Easycome. They added each other as friends before Easycome excused himself.

Jack then spent the remainder of the day studying the papers. In the evening, Jack peeked outside. It was rather empty for a capital city. Only a few natives were seen. No players were on the street. Easycome was serious about a curfew taking place.

Jack returned to checking the papers. The investigative teams had been given the best steeds for quick maneuvering, but they would still take several days to arrive in this capital.

Jack was thankful that he had talked with John earlier. He immediately saw the connection between the victims of the serial killings. All the native victims were officers of the Hydrurond kingdom faction. John was right. This was a targeted operation.

Most of the victims were special elite grades and below. This made sense as the higher the natives' grades, the more HP they possessed. The murderers were attacking the victims inside a safe zone, so time was an important factor. They couldn't take their sweet time because someone might notice and report to the patrols.

Many of the killings happened during the night and in secluded areas. No wonder a curfew was implemented. However, it only slowed the killings by a bit. Easycome mentioned that the curfews started two weeks ago. Before two weeks, the killing happened in intervals of three to four days. Afterward, it was around six to seven days. This happened in most of the major cities.

He then noticed something unusual. A native of rare elite grade. Continuing from there, he found a few others. Each of the successive killings of rare elite natives either happened in the same cities or nearby cities, and their intervals were always three to four days, even after the curfews were implemented.

Jack suspected two things from these findings. Firstly, these rare elite murders were done by the same group. Secondly, the players in this group were experts. So, from all the groups operating in different cities. One group was especially dangerous.

Jack compiled the information chronologically and separated them for each city. He then decided to just send the info to the team by messages. This way, they could head directly to the cities where the murders took place and start investigating once they crossed the border. The messages took a long time and consumed coins, but Jack didn't mind.

Jack informed the teams that their job was only to find out about the responsible players and the locations. They were not to engage the murderers. He also told them to do it discretely so their targets weren't aware. These murderers took out high-HP natives in a short time inside a safe zone, they were not people the investigative teams could deal with. The investigative teams did not consist of battle-oriented players.

After he was done sending the information, he rested for the night.

*

For the next several days, Jack went back to the underworld to farm draconic essences again. Draconic monsters were more frequent in the underworld compared to the upworld.

He again used the same method of not returning to his previous grinding areas and only spent one or two days at one spot. This kept him away from any possible tracings by the underworld empire.

By then, Jack had also learned of Hydrurond players' crushing defeat. Both Jeanny and Megan were killed by Master's Meteor Fall. Luckily, both of them only lost one level. Jeanny was saved by their guild's Ressurection Chapel, while Megan wore an Amulet of Rebirth.

Each of Hydrurond's player guilds lost more than half of their guild armies. This was a heavy blow to them. This meant they won't be able to do anything meaningful for the remainder of the war. They also didn't achieve anything significant in that battle on the first day, which meant they would get only a few war contribution points. Their loss far outweighed their gains.

Many of the guilds decided to no longer involve themselves in the war after those heavy losses. Only a few rejoined, but they took a cautious approach after the loss.

Everlasting Heavenly Legends were one of the guilds rejoining. Everlasting Heavenly Legends and Evil Breakers didn't lose as many members as the other guilds because they were separate from the other guilds who were getting overwhelmed by World Maker's guild army and members.

The most significant loss from the two guilds was their leaders. Jeanny and Megan issued a retreat after both of them were killed, thus limiting their losses. They didn't see a chance for the remaining players to succeed in getting to the enemy's guild army command platforms.

After decimating the players, World Maker redirected its force to support Liguritudum's native army. Even though Hyrdurond's native army was fewer in number, their quality was better and their morale was higher. Hence, the battle wasn't too one-sided.

The surviving players who survived and the ones returning to the battlefield now changed their approach. They now played a supportive role in the native army as Jeanny suggested. However, they weren't welcome by Hydrurond's native army. Hence, they could only support from the rear and the flanks.

Jeanny later learned that this was due to Hydrurond natives' growing distrust of the outworlders caused by the serial killings.

The battle between the two forces raged on for days. It was not an easy battle but the Liguritudum's force with their number advantage continued to push. The way Liguritudum's army moved within the battle was also very flexible. Every unit perfectly support one another and they maneuvered in a way that exploited Hydrurond's army weakness.

Jeanny and the others from Everlasting Heavenly Legends felt a deja vu seeing the enemy's movements. They felt as if they were fighting an army controlled by John.

After five days of fierce battles, a clear winner was decided. Hydrurond's army was reduced to 500,000 troops, less than half their starting number.

As for Liguritudum, they lost around 1,000,000 troops. Even though their loss was the same as Hydrurond, the ratio between the two surviving forces had steepened. Liguritudum's army was now three times Hydrurond's army.

With only around 500,000 troops to defend against 1,500,000, Hydrurond was not able to stop Liguritudum from overwhelming them. Even with their abnormal pride, the general of the Hydrurond army had no choice but to issue a retreat.

They retreated to the nearest fort and holed up there. Only a bit more than 300,000 troops were left when they took a defensive position inside the fort.

Liguritudum's army didn't bother laying a siege on that fort. They went and conquered the closest city, Hemerama. They turned this city into their command base. A majority of the army then continued North with unstoppable momentum. They were heading toward where the two forces of Aurebor and Hydrurond were still having a showdown.

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