Chapter 1438 - The Fate of a Grand Alliance (Patreon)

“We need to send more people to the Central Domain! The eastern border is stable, the south is firmly in our hands, and the north and western fronts are both progressing within expectations. If we stop pushing and reallocate Prima Credits to different fronts, we can easily afford more teleportations!” the beastkin man argued in a raised voice.

“Things are stable and within expectations exactly because of our current level of investment. We already sent all the elites we can afford to the Central Domain, and sending more will just result in a loss as it will not give a proper return on the investment,” a human woman disagreed, shaking her head.

“You’re only saying that because your Territory is already safe,” a green-skinned humanoid of a newly integrated enlightened race said. “We are running out of time here.”

“Don’t blame me just because the elites we nurtured are more competent than those available to you,” the human woman shot back in a sharp tone. “I’ve already sent those very same elites to help others, and so has everyone with anyone available. You two are just advocating to throw away Prima Credits in a desperate attempt to slightly increase your chances of survival.”

“Oh, please, we all know you’re practically giggling inside at the prospect of some of us disappearing so you can take our Territories for yourself,” the beastkin man scoffed loudly. “I swear, I don’t know who is the bigger threat to this alliance, the Order of the Malefic Viper to the west or you.”

“Maybe it’s your damn incompetence,” the woman practically shouted, leaning forward. “Do you know why I’m on edge? Because my Territory is the fucking frontline. You’re not the one dealing with the Order of the Malefic Viper and those damn witches. I’m trying to survive just like you. While your fall would weaken the alliance and be an issue, should I fall, it would threaten every single person in this room. So excuse me if I think that maybe I should be allowed to get at least a few resources when I’ve already sent away my best fighters to help the rest of you.”

“Everyone, please, it benefits no one to get heated like this,” a fourth person, a human man, spoke. He was just one of thirty-three other people who had remained silent so far, all of them Chief Administrators or representatives of Chief Administrators. Which, yes, meant that this alliance had a total of thirty-six Territories, and that didn’t count the Vassals some of them had, which would bring the total to over a hundred.

“The only way we’ve been able to survive thus far was by working together. We’ve lost many already, and I do agree we should do our best not to lose more, but at the same time, if the frontlines collapse, we are indeed all doomed,” the human man continued, his voice soothing the heated crowd significantly.

“So what do you propose?” a Chief Administrator who hadn’t spoken yet so far asked, but her words did garner quite the attention. She was the one leading the largest Territory, which also served as the northernmost front, where they were facing several powerful forces. Without her Territory, the alliance would probably have been destroyed already a long time ago, so her words carried a lot of weight.

“I wish I could offer up some brilliant plan that would leave everyone satisfied, but unfortunately, I fear that all we can do is reach a compromise of some sort. We are surrounded by enemies on all sides, and even the rules of this world work against us, yet we’ve managed to stay alive so far by sticking together, and I believe we should continue to do so. In other words, as hard as it might be to accept, I think we should focus mainly on ensuring everyone’s survival. Getting eliminated by failing to get enough Prima Credits from the Central Domain is a surefire way to lose, while shifting our focus more from some of the battles with other Territories is only a potential risk,” the human man answered, having clearly given the subject quite a lot of thought, and those around him nodded for the most part, with especially the beastkin man looking pleased..

 “With that said, we need these resources from somewhere. The northern, eastern, and southern battles all remain intense, and we’ve even been pushed back to the east and lost one of our allies recently, so we cannot weaken those fronts. Based on all the data, the western front does seem the least at-risk at the moment, correct? When was the last time the Order of the Malefic Viper invaded?” he asked the human woman.

She seemed hesitant and annoyed for a moment before sighing. “Two months.”

The human man nodded. “And are there any signs they are planning a large invasion?”

“We cannot possibly know what they’re planning behind the scenes, and they might just-“

“Answer his question,” the leader of the northern front cut her off. “Because last time I checked, all they’ve been doing is reinforcing their defenses.”

The human woman from the western front looked annoyed, gritting her teeth. “For now. Before this, they probed our defenses constantly, and who knows what they can do or what reinforcements they can deploy there at a moment’s notice?”

“I don’t think they can afford to do so,” the human man spoke again, shaking his head. “From what I know, they’re already dealing with powerful factions themselves, including the Holy Church, who are also a problem along much of our south-western borders. I doubt we’re even on their radar right now, be it due to them viewing us as less of a threat, or finding themselves too preoccupied with other forces who’ve shown more recent aggression.”

“Sounds like it would be even smarter to divest from the western front and make us look even less threatening, then,” the beastkin from before said, crossing his arms. “All those soldiers you’re mass-producing could do a lot more in the north, and you should also send those three Uniques you got there. That way, more Administrators would be freed up to help the alliance survive this stage of the event.”

Clearly, the beastkin was a lot more confident now that he had others on his side, and the human woman couldn’t do much more without looking too selfish. She was hesitant and argued for a while longer, but ultimately, she was shut down by the rest of the alliance and felt forced to comply, weakening the frontlines toward the Order of the Malefic Viper.

Part of her hoped the Order would notice the weakened defenses and launch a probing attack so she could argue she needed more resources, but nothing happened. Things actually got worse from her perspective as the Order of the Malefic Viper also seemed to reallocate forces, proving everyone else right.

Resentment slowly started to build as the weeks and months passed. She was ambitious and had initially hoped to at least claim some of the Order of the Malefic Viper’s Territory to expand her own, but that clearly wasn’t going to happen. Instead, she only had more resources taken from her, with nearly her entire daily income going to mass-produced soldiers who immediately left her Territory to help elsewhere. Besides the human man who spoke of unity, which she really couldn’t be mad about, and she already had an overall good impression of him, she built negative feelings toward everyone else.

Meanwhile, the northern front was thriving with far more support, and the elven woman who led it grew increasingly ambitious. She already had the largest Territory, and with even more resources, she pushed to not merely defend but expand the alliance. Her ambition was rewarded: the better she did, the more she was given, until thoughts of taking over the alliance began to sprout.

There was already a clear power imbalance among the alliance's members, and this would only worsen, as those “trapped” by their allies, without any borders to invade, would remain weak, while those who could expand would continue to grow stronger.

Others also began to have similar thoughts as internal discussions among Chief Administrators took place in the dark. Secret alliances, promises, and plans were made, with only trusted people involved.

The beastkin and the northern leader quickly were in agreement after she helped his Territory get enough Prima Credits from the Central Domain to survive the event, and with the help of him and the human man from the meeting that had served as the impetus for the change in the alliance, their new alliance within the alliance quickly grew.

At the same time, the western leader grew more impatient and skeptical, and it didn’t get any better when she was tipped off to the formation of these hidden alliances, none of which she was part of. She had effectively been excluded and left alone for some reason, and even when there were signs that the Order of the Malefic Viper was making moves on the other side of the border, she only received empty promises and delay tactics in response.

Then, as the situation was already getting precarious, and whatever collective meeting they had was utterly unproductive, a bombshell announcement came from the southern front:

A Territory from the alliance had chosen to instead ally with the Holy Church, and only a few hours later, two other small Territories of the alliance were invaded using the teleportation network of the traitors. The forces of the north immediately moved south to defend the alliance the northern leader wanted to claim as their own, and during all this chaos, the western leader, who was fed up with the situation, also suddenly turned her back on the alliance and even dragged along two other Chief Administrators who instantly invaded a fourth one.

The largest Territory that held up the eastern front was taken somewhat by surprise as everything around them fell apart and wasn’t sure where to go or what to do, but ultimately heeded advice and went to the south to also fight the invading Holy Church who had shown up in force intending to dismantle the entire alliance and claiming the many Territories as their own.

When matters seemed to be at their worst, the Order of the Malefic Viper moved, led by a True Dragon and several Uniques, along with a massive army. That was also when it came out that the western leader had been approached not long ago and offered the chance to become a Vassal in order to survive, and when she saw how utterly chaotic things had become and read the writing on the wall, she accepted their terms.

At the same time, unbeknownst to the alliance, the Order of the Malefic Viper also invaded the Holy Church, which had dedicated many of its forces to fighting the alliance.

As a last-ditch effort to craft a proper response, a meeting was held among the remaining members of the alliance who still stood together. Despite everything, they still had twenty-two Territories remaining, and while they were weakened, the Order's attack on the Holy Church had slowed the faction's advance and even prompted it to pull back, giving the alliance some hope of reorganizing and fighting back.

All the Chief Administrators or their representatives gathered yet again in the largest Territory ruled by the northern Chief Administrator, close to the Territory Beacon, as that was the safest location by far.

“I will not beat around the bush; things aren’t looking good,” the elven Chief Administrator said with a grave look on her face. “It’s fortunate that I managed to clean up the northern front, but with the Order of the Malefic Viper and the Holy Church both invading, the situation is clearly dire.”

Even now, she couldn’t help but promote herself and her success in the north, wanting to increase her authority over the remaining alliance.

“But we aren’t beaten yet!” the beastkin Chief Administrator said with gusto in his voice. “The Holy Church and Order are also fighting, and as far as I heard, the eastern front is silent right now.”

The leader of the eastern front nodded in confirmation as he spoke. “None of the bordering factions have made any move recently, and I’ve done all I can to hide any potential weakness, making me believe they don’t know anything is amiss. Chances are, the newest information they have pertains to our successful conquest in the north.”

“See, we still have a chance,” the beastkin smiled, clearly confident.

Other Chief Administrators also spoke up, and quickly the current situation became clear. Soon, twenty-two of the people present had spoken, reporting how each Territory was doing and giving an overview of resources and input on the plan, which was when some of them noticed... there were twenty-three people in the room.

All eyes turned to the last person there, but instantly they all relaxed. It was the same human man who had helped calm the situation what felt like ages ago, and who had been a great support and an advisor to many of the people present over the last few months.

There was one weird thing, though, and the leader of the northern front, whom many already looked to as the de facto leader, frowned as a question appeared in her mind.

“I don’t quite recall, Liam, what Territory did you represent again?”

She had assumed there were twenty-two Territories remaining, as that’s what she’d heard, but there were twenty-three people there, and everyone else had already presented their Territory's situation, so how come he was there? Were they actually twenty-three remaining? Was he just there due to how brilliant he’d shown himself to be?

Not a single part of her suspected him. He had helped her a lot, given advice on conquering the north, and, not only that, had helped increase her influence across the entire alliance, allowing her to get where she was today. Should they overcome this crisis, she would no doubt become the official leader of the alliance, and he would have played an instrumental role in making that happen.

What’s more, he was clearly not a fighting man. He wasn’t very strong, even if he was smart, so none of them had ever seen him as a threat either.

“Liam is from... huh,” the beastkin started to say, then trailed off. “You know, I can’t recall.”

“He isn’t from my Territory,” another leader spoke.

“Not mine either,” another muttered, looking confused. Confusion spread quickly throughout the room, and even the northern leader frowned deeply. For some reason, a sudden flood of suspicion washed over her, along with a million questions. When did he first appear in these meetings? Who had allowed him to be there? Why had no one introduced him, and why had no one questioned him?

“Liam...” she began, staring at him as realization dawned. “Who are you?”

As she said this, the others frowned as well, feeling that something was wrong. However, before they could say anything, the human sighed and raised a hand. Out of the corner of her eye, the northern leader saw a slight reflection on what appeared to be a single strand of spiderweb before she felt a stinging pain on her neck.

In an instant, twenty-two heads were sent flying as a web of metal threads had already lined the room and slowly wrapped around them from the moment the meeting began. The only one untouched was “Liam,” who stood there without a single drop of blood on his clothes.

The room was silent as all the corpses turned into blue wisps of energy and dispersed. Taking out a small item, he infused it with energy, sending a message that the job was done and he would soon return. Before that, though, he turned his attention toward the Territory Beacon. It was still defended, but he should be able to get to it while the alliance scrambled to figure out what had happened, and when it fell, the rest of the alliance would soon follow.

Once that was done, William felt he’d earned a well-deserved break, as this kind of thing was mentally taxing, to say the least.