Chapter 186: Deceiving Deception

"It looks like we're all going to die, so why are you talking so casually about it? Oh, I see. Is it because you’re going to be okay with wings?"

"There isn’t always a causal relationship with wings and flying in the sky.”

"What do you mean?"

"And," Mazdari said, "I only said we were crashing, not that we were all going to die."

Ramin Solost Muel was relieved on the inside.

Mazdari was both a great Wizard and an apostle, so it was obvious that he wouldn't leave everyone in the Thunderstrider to die.

"So, there's a way out after all?"

Mazdari shook his head and replied, "A way out? I don't have any plans to intervene personally."

"What?"

"The Thunderstrider is an airship originally constructed to withstand even the worst-case scenario of the envelope being in complete destruction and crashing. We can't avoid the fall itself, but we can change the hard landing into a soft one."

At those words, Ramin checked to see what the busy soldiers were doing. They were using levers to turn the direction of the thrusters attached to both sides of the helical wings, moving them from facing forward to facing up and down so that they would somehow lift the airship.

Mazdari continued to say, "The envelope isn't completely destroyed, so it can be repaired. Some of the wizards have already started synthesizing hydrogen. That would give us enough gas to fill the gasbag, and we have materials to repair the torn envelope."

Just as he finished speaking, there was a loud clunking sound from both sides of the airship's hull. Both of the tilting thrusters had turned to right angles.

As the thrusters on both sides began to turn at the command of the Lizardman captain, Ploy Tansen, the descent speed significantly slowed, enough for the passengers to feel it.

The soldiers cheered and hugged each other, and Ramin dropped to the ground.

"Why did you scare me? I should go see if there's any way I can help the others."

"Ramin, you don’t understand. Just because we land safely doesn't mean the situation changes."

"What do you mean now?"

"The problem isn't that we're crashing; it's where we're crashing."

Only then did Ramin remember what she had forgotten. Since they had encountered the Dragon Knights of the Union Kingdom, it was only natural to assume that the Thunderstrider had crossed the frontlines.

Mazdari continued to say, "We're falling toward the southmost part of the southern continent, the Danly Union Kingdom. There are likely numerous soldiers and weapons of the Danly Union Kingdom beneath us."

Ramin was taken aback.

She said, “I was secretly hoping the airship would crash, but I still hoped it would happen before we reached the frontlines. It seems Night Sky misunderstood my wish."

"...Maybe so."

Mazdari was about to scold Ramin, but he realized it wouldn't be of any use and gave up.

"Although we don’t know how fast the enemies are, we can't avoid battle when considering the time it takes to repair the Thunderstrider."

"So, in the end, we’re all going to die? And you, apostle, will fly away?"

Mazdari clacked his beak together. He had been looking at Ramin with his sharp eyes—it had always worked to produce useful results in previous conversations—but the Vampire showed no signs of realization this time.

Mazdari held back a sigh and said, “I won’t run away, Ramin.”

"That's a relief."

"You're the one who needs to run away."

Ramin asked, "What?"

***

There was a massive steel fortress that could be called impregnable. It consisted of dozens of spires of varying heights in a Gothic style, and the spires seemed to pierce the sky. The windows of the tall corridor bridge connecting the spires were stained glass marked with indistinct symbols.

Gargoyles, who had lost their roles due to a lack of visitors, sat on the railings of the spires and bridges, silently looking down at the emptiness beyond the fortress. It looked like a prison where no one came and no one could escape from.

On top of the tallest spire, on the highest platform, was someone wearing a horn helmet sitting on a large throne. It was the player Hegemonia.

Hegemonia said to the creation bowing in front of the throne, "What did you say? Say it again."

This creation, resembling a Velociraptor in every way, had been created by Hegemonia to fulfill several tasks on their behalf. This type of creation was known to take on the administration role among players, and Hegemonia had been too busy to govern all their expanded territory, so Hegemonia had no other choice but to have such a creation.

The raptor bowed its head very low and said, "The Thunderstrider is crashing in our territory."

"Is that so?"

This was unexpected news for Hegemonia. When the massive moray created to face Mazdari died, Hegemonia had swiped away the screen, thinking the operation a failure. However, even in the moment of its death, the massive moray had not forgotten its mission and had succeeded.

"Then can we finally capture one of the apostles? No, wait, they would’ve sent their army to the crash site, right?”

"Yes. The fifth apostle, Alma Alloy, is moving armies from all directions to surround the area."

While listening to the raptor’s report, Hegemonia checked the situations one by one through the system window.

"Oh, good. So..."

Just as Hegemonia was about to relay additional instructions, a message appeared.

[Player, Nebula, has requested a Whisper Conversation.]

Hegemonia instinctively moved to touch the approval button, but stopped just before doing so.

‘No! I won't fall for it this time.’

From Hegemonia's perspective, the war of the past several decades could be summarized as a history of long thought deceitful tactics by Sung-Woon.

Sung-Woon had presented Hegemonia with simple proposals, ceasefires, and even partial surrenders that would be considered sweet words for Hegemonia. Yet they were all just tactics for his next scheme. In fact, accepting any of those proposals, even on a specific front, would eventually lead to losses for Hegemonia, but that couldn't be known until after the fact. When they had initially played The Lost World together, there was no need for Hegemonia to talk with Nebula, so it was something Hegemonia didn’t even imagine would happen. But thinking about it now, even that seemed like a part of Sung-Woon’s schemes.

‘He acted like he was going to play fair, but…!’

Of course, what happened wasn’t only because Hegemonia simply trusted Sung-Woon. With the scale of the ongoing war between two nations being so massive, it was impossible for one to comprehend all the cause-and-effect involved. For example, when Sung-Woon had proposed a ceasefire on the eastern front for several years, Hegemonia had accepted it. However, the abrupt ceasefire had caused merchants making profits though the war to go bankrupt, leading to economic collapse in the region. It was something that Hegemonia couldn’t have checked for. After that, the situation led to weakened security and eventually a rebellion, and other seemingly minor events had eventually turned the war against Hegemonia.

‘I just need to do what I have to do and not be fooled by Nebula's wordplay.’

In the first place, the fact that the opponent was making any proposal indicated that they had already finished their preparations. Even if Hegemonia prepared thoroughly and was a god who could know everything that was going on within their territory, there were limits to how much information Hegemonia could take in and digest all alone.

‘...No. Nebula is no different. Even though there are other players, they are only slightly smarter and more autonomous than my creations. Alliances are always a risk factor.’

The truth was that Hegemonia regretted not attacking Sung-Woon and his alliance properly, but Hegemonia believed they could win using only their own full abilities. Of course, Hegemonia believed that luck was also a skill; it was the case for players who had risen to the top of a particular field.

Ignoring the message, Hegemonia continued giving instructions to the raptor.

"...Oh, and I should send more creations down. From among the creations that aren't currently guarding the frontlines, we should assign their positions..."

Just then, a lone raptor came running.

“Oh, Great Angry One! We have a major problem!"

"What's going on?"

"You must quickly check the northern front!"

Hegemonia brought up the screen.

"...What is this?"

The southern front of the empire, which was the northern front of the Union Kingdom, showed the status of trench warfare. Normally, those with the ability to break through the front lines, such as apostles, creature creations, or tank forces, would pierce the front lines, followed by infantry units advancing after. Both sides would then respond to stop each other's front lines from getting broken through while trying to gain the upper hand on other fronts, which could be considered a universal tactic.

The supply situations of both nations weren’t great due to the prolonged war, and the need to advance technologically and socially had forced them to find some degree of compromise. However, what could be seen on the front line now was not the usual warfare of give and take. Countless creature creations were charging forward toward the trenches, which hadn’t been unprecedented at the frontlines. Among them were creations that Hegemonia had already put on their must-kill list.

‘Isn't that Sratis? It didn’t appear after the last battle on the eastern front. That beetle is Hekab, and that one...it’s damn Sekton.’

Even one of them could easily sweep aside an infantry unit, and now tens of them were charging in a line along the front. While there could be creations with low levels among them, if those creatures formed a unit, the front line wouldn’t withstand them.

‘Wait, with those numbers, did they pull out all the creations from the other fronts? Then they must have fought on the other fronts first... No, no.’

Hegemonia came to their senses. When it came to war command, Hegemonia was confident even against Sung-Woon.

‘I get it, they wanted an all-out battle. Nebula must have realized that his ridiculous mind games won't work anymore.’

If this were the case, it also made sense why he had risked deploying the third best apostle, Mazdari, into danger.

‘The Thunderstrider crashing was a deception as well. Just to prevent me from having time to react.’

But even now, it wasn't too late to realize this.

Hegemonia stood up and said, "Alright, raptors. We're going all-out as well. Gather all the apostles who aren’t currently fighting in other fronts. The first front was to buy time for situations like this anyway. We'll settle this on the second front!"

Then, one of the raptors raised its head.

"Well, however, Great Angry One..."

"What is it?"

"...What should we do about the Thunderstrider?"

Hegemonia then said angrily, "You still don't get it? It's all a deception. Just keep it in place, but make sure to report Mazdari's location accurately."

***

Sung-Woon said to Wisdom, “How is it?”

Wisdom checked his screen and replied, "It’s just as you said. The enemy forces are gathering. How did you know?"

Sung-Woon shook his head.

"It's because we made a bold decision that we’ve never made before, so naturally, Hegemonia got thrilled. Plus, Hegemonia is pretty simple.”

While it could be said that Hegemonia generally possessed the ability to rival even the empire’s power, one would be hard-pressed to call their moves strategies. Therefore, Sung-Woon's first strategy against Hegemonia was not to seek direct gains from the war. And this approach had always been successful.

"But if we immediately withdraw our troops, Hegemonia would realize it's a deception as long as they’re not an idiot.”

“Then do we just maintain the front lines even if we would be at a loss?”

“No, withdraw right away.”

“...?”

As Wisdom turned around, Sung-Woon continued to say, “But we need to deceive Hegemonia about what the deception is for. We should move the intelligence agency from the western front. It would be great if that Gnoll skin disease we kept back then could be put to use.”

In the meantime, Sung-Woon was thinking about moving the real pawns that needed to be moved.