Chapter 67 Will There Be Players?

Kana looked at the two shipwrights.

"How many rafts do we have in total right now?"

The older shipwright replied, "Reporting to Your Highness, there are six rafts in total. We can assemble four of them at once tomorrow. If we push a bit harder, we might be able to assemble another six the day after tomorrow."

A few dwarves had arrived here recently. Having nowhere to vent their restlessness, they frequently took to felling trees. Dwarves naturally possessed such untamable personalities, and without alcohol to drink, they needed an outlet even more.

These dwarves possessed tier-three strength, making their tree-felling far more formidable than that of ordinary workers. With loud, resounding thuds, a massive tree would come crashing down after just a few strikes.

The group of workers proved extremely supportive, cheering and shouting enthusiastically from the sidelines. They even started competitions, such as one dwarf competing against a dozen workers at once. Consequently, a substantial pile of timber had accumulated.

"Inform the workers of the current situation and tell them to push a little harder," Kana said after a moment of thought, with a helpless expression.

The more rafts they had, the more composure they would retain later on. Although they were told there were still three days left, that was merely the script of a game. Naturally, they could no longer afford to wait until the third day to take action as they once did.

His warning this time would, to some extent, prove helpful to the frontline. When they arrived on the second day, Kana intended to urge them once more, persuading them to begin operations immediately upon retreating here. There must be no dawdling or dragging of feet; time was precious and waited for no one.

The enemy's weapons were also yearning for their blood.

"Take a rest. Tomorrow, I will go take a look at Riverbend Town."

The townspeople would definitely need to evacuate first. Gathering them into the logging camp ahead of time would not only keep them safe but also allow them to lend a hand, perhaps even yielding more rafts.

Once the retreat was decided, any further hesitation or dilly-dallying would only spell doom for themselves.

...

The next day, Kana and his companions woke up early. After arranging everything in the camp, Kana led the group toward the town.

Around approaching noon, they finally reached the town. As soon as they arrived, Kana sensed an oppressive and tense atmosphere hanging over the place. Many residents appeared to have already begun packing their belongings in their homes.

Kana found Jonior, who was currently busy directing the soldiers to conduct patrols and make subsequent preparations. All kinds of military supplies had already been readied.

Seeing Kana approach, Jonior hurriedly stood up.

"Your Highness? Why have you come here?"

Kana glanced around and asked casually, "Are you planning to make your stand against the bloodborn right here?"

Jonior shook his head. "I do not know. I am merely making preparations according to the Earl's orders. We will only know the subsequent course of action once the Earl arrives."

Hearing this, Kana did not press further, merely nodding to show he understood.

"Regardless of how that plays out, the residents in the town must be evacuated, right? Why not send a portion of the prepared residents downriver to the logging camp first? That way, they can continue preparing and build more rafts over the next few days."

Kana suggested.

Upon hearing the proposal, Jonior fell into deep thought. After conferring briefly with the nearby quartermaster and pondering for a moment, he nodded.

"Very well, Your Highness. I will try to send a batch of residents to the logging camp first. I must ask you to ensure their safety within the camp."

"That goes without saying." Kana nodded.

He had not brought many people with him to the town this time—only Alirise, Blake, and Bobot. Blake immediately set to work assisting Jonior with some of the town's administrative affairs.

Kana, meanwhile, took Alirise and Bobot for a stroll through the town. Making their way to the small town square, Kana randomly picked a spot and sat down.

Seated in the shade of a large tree, Kana propped his chin on his hand and gazed ahead.

After a short while, Bobot could no longer hold back. "So... what are we doing here?"

For a moment, she felt quite bewildered. Alirise harbored similar doubts, but she simply stood quietly by his side without asking questions.

Instead of answering, Kana glanced up at the sun in the sky. At that moment, the sun had reached its zenith; it was precisely noon.

"Waiting for people... waiting for some people who do not exist," Kana replied calmly.

"Waiting for people?" Bobot scratched the fur on her head, completely baffled.

However, since Kana clearly had his reasons, it did not matter. She found a spot nearby and sat down, pulling out her personal notebook to scribble and sketch inside.

Passing townspeople glanced over from time to time, their attention naturally drawn mostly to the large white rat scribbling in a notebook. Bobot had already grown used to it; people stared wherever she went anyway.

Before long, Alirise shuffled over to sit beside Bobot, lowering her head to observe what she was writing in the book. A little while later, the two of them began chatting in soft, hushed tones, with Bobot occasionally showing Alirise some of her previous notes.

As for Kana, he kept his gaze fixed intently ahead, as though waiting for something unknown.

"Will they come? Will they really?" Kana stared blankly ahead, asking himself.

He was lingering here, waiting for something, not because he was genuinely anticipating any specific individual, but rather a particular collective group.

A group to which he had once belonged.

"Players."

Although Kana deeply felt that he was living in a real world, and though he suspected his wait might yield no hope and proved utterly minuscule in probability, unless he witnessed it here with his own eyes, his heart remained uneasy.

...

At 2:00 PM today was the exact moment when the 5,000 closed-beta players were scheduled to enter the game.

Upon entering, the players would begin moving about the town. Confronted with their very first holographic simulation game, they would revel in their freedom and explore this new era of gaming. They would converse with various town residents, accept quests from them, dart back and forth across the settlement, and infuse this particular time node with a bustling, lively atmosphere.

At that time, their assigned identities would be newly recruited logistics soldiers from the town.

The sun slowly shifted. The shadows on the ground lengthened and moved along with the sunlight.

Yet, what Kana awaited never arrived.

The appointed time for them to appear in the game had long since passed. It was already afternoon, and sitting here a little longer would bring them close to dusk.

"Looks like the people you were waiting for didn't show up?" Bobot remarked from the side.

"Yeah." Kana nodded and stood up.

A wave of emotional turbulence washed over him; he could not tell whether he felt relieved or saddened. His mindset was entirely contradictory.

Brushing the dust from his trousers, he turned to the two companions and said, "Let's go. We'll rest in the town for today. The Earl's troops will likely arrive by midnight."

Kana prepared to speak with the Earl at the earliest possible moment, hoping to convince him to order an immediate retreat. In the original game, the Earl's forces had indeed only retreated to the town on the second morning. With his intervention this time, although the Earl had not heeded his advice from the very beginning, they should still manage to be a bit more composed than before.

...

At dusk, a bloodborn detachment arrived at the riverbank, God knew when. A massive number of giant bats and ghouls made up the core of this force.

One giant bat landed, its size dwarfing its peers by a full margin. A figure leaped down from its back—a genuine bloodborn.

His skin possessed a bruised, cyan-purple hue, clinging tightly to his frame like a layer of mucous membrane. His emaciated body looked starved, the skin stretched directly over a skeletal framework. Crimson eyes, a mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth, and sunken cheeks stripped him of any remaining human appearance.

At this moment, he resembled a monster far more than a person.

In his hand, he held what appeared to be some kind of human limb, his jaws chewing up and down as dark red juice spilled from the corners of his mouth.

This precisely explained why Kana so fiercely rejected becoming one of these bloodborn. Beyond their hideous appearance lay that unavoidable craving for flesh—a ravenous appetite for the flesh of their former kin.

Kana found it utterly impossible to accept from the bottom of his heart.

"Across the river... is that the enemy's military stronghold?" His voice was low, hoarse, and grating, sounding like rusty sheets of iron rubbing against one another.

"Yes, My Lord, it is directly across the river," another bloodborn clad in leather armor replied respectfully.

The bloodborn officer glanced at him and said, "I hope your intelligence is accurate."

"Of course, My Lord. I also hope our friends back home can embrace their rebirth," the bloodborn soldier answered with a fanatical expression.

"Heh, as it should be."

The bloodborn officer chuckled, then turned to issue commands: "All of you mindless monsters, hide yourselves and silence your noises. Nighttime is when you shall truly run wild."

Clearly, this was not an opportune moment to launch an attack. The troops began to pull back, concealing themselves in pre-selected vantage points. Waiting for the descent of night, they would rapidly cross the river and launch a fatal surprise assault on the town.

Not far from this force, another bloodborn squad was rapidly advancing deeper into the kingdom's territory.

Judging by its composition, this squad was evidently an elite unit among the bloodborn. The entire group contained virtually no inferior ghouls; even the weakest among them were a pair of oversized giant bats outfitted with crude armor.

Every other member consisted of a pure-blooded bloodborn, sporting monstrous appearances, crimson armor, and exquisitely crafted weapons. Among them was even a member resembling a stitched werewolf, with subtle suture marks crisscrossing its body—marking it as an advanced specimen among stitched werewolves.

Unsurprisingly, they were likely all tier-three elites. Traveling light without carrying heavy provisions, they appeared to be escorting something important.

Suddenly, one of the werewolves halted, sniffing intently at the air.

Seeing this, the other members instantly froze, hands dropping to their weapons, ready to strike at a moment's notice.

"What did you find?" asked the bloodborn who appeared to be the squad leader.

The werewolf shook his head. "I caught a scent. Wait."

With that, he inhaled more deeply and carefully. After a long moment, he seemed to confirm his suspicions.

"If I'm not mistaken, it should be His Highness the Fourth Prince. I smell his scent—it's coming from over there." He pointed in a specific direction. The direction he indicated was precisely that of Riverbend Town.

"Hmm... there's also the scent of Lafort. It seems he brought some troops."

"The Fourth Prince? Aren't all princes supposed to be safely inside the royal capital?" a member asked, puzzled.

The squad leader shook his head. "No, one of them fled that day."

"Fled? Why?"

"The Fourth Prince? Where could he even run to?"

The members, apparently oblivious to these details, expressed utter confusion. As everyone knew, the bloodborn traced their origin directly to the royal family, who sat at the absolute peak of the bloodborn hierarchy. What was there to run from? Weren't all members of the royal family born as natural bloodborn?

Was there some kind of royal persecution drama going on here? That didn't sound right. Besides, the one who fled was the Fourth Prince—that utter good-for-nothing.

"Do not pry into royal matters," the squad leader rebuked sternly.

The werewolf nearby chimed in, "Well? What do you say? Shall we go claim this merit?"

Listening to the werewolf, the squad leader hesitated. "We are still in the middle of delivering cargo. If anything goes wrong, General Otto will skin us alive."

Yet, this was undoubtedly a rare opportunity for merit.

"What are you afraid of? For those of us drifting on the sea day in and day out, earning merits is terribly difficult. It's just a gemstone anyway; how valuable could it possibly be? This is a rare chance. Otherwise, when will we ever get promoted to true, complete bloodborn?" the werewolf cajoled from the side.

Securing merits was hard, especially when their comrades on land were already running amok while they were still stuck drifting miserably at sea.

Another member could not help nodding in agreement. "That's right. The ground forces are already cleaning up the Earl's territory. They'll definitely attack the Kingdom of Cohen next, while we eastern naval troops can only waste our days wandering around on that damn sea."

"Exactly. We used to only raid merchant vessels, and now there aren't even merchant ships left."

Hearing this, the leader remained somewhat conflicted. He reached into his tunic and pulled out the item he was tasked with transporting.

It was a tiny gemstone fragment. To be honest, it didn't feel particularly valuable. Yet, General Otto, currently fighting at sea, had solemnly entrusted this trinket to their squad, ordering them to deliver it to the royal capital with all haste.

He knew where this item came from—it had apparently been looted from a vessel belonging to those pointy-eared folk. Since those pointy-eared ships were overflowing with gems, there was nothing rare about this.

Despite these thoughts, he still hadn't made up his mind.

At that moment, the werewolf spoke again. "Lafort's troops definitely don't have any werewolves. I remember his force consists entirely of ignorant ghouls and those bats. He surely has no idea that among his targets for tonight is a runaway member of the royalty. That reckless fool is bound to attack tonight; we can wait for them to charge in first, then take advantage of the chaos to capture the Fourth Prince ourselves."

He added eagerly, "That's a stray royal scion! The only ones outside the capital are the Earl and the Fourth Prince. The Earl might be out of our reach, but the Fourth Prince? Who knows? There certainly won't be many defense troops there, considering the Earl's main force is still pinned down at the frontline where I hear they can't even lift their heads."

This was a clear-cut merit, one that would undoubtedly reach the King's own ears. It was an honor, and an opportunity.

The squad leader finally seemed swayed by the argument. He tucked the gemstone back into his tunic, clenched his teeth, and said, "Let's do it!"

"Move out. Let's go take a look, but remember to conceal your tracks and move carefully. Don't alert Lafort; I have no desire to share credit with that idiot."

"Heh, no problem."

The elite little squad turned and crept stealthily toward the town as well.

Time quickly flew by. The sun dipped below the horizon, and night began to swallow the sky. The silvery moonlight and twinkling starlight offered the only remaining illumination to the dark world.

Across the river, malevolent red gazes locked onto the opposite bank. Dozens of massive bats fluttered their wings, melting into the shadows and scattering apart. One ghoul after another slipped silently into the water, beginning their swim toward the opposite shore.

Not far from the riverbank stood a watchtower. Because the Earl's forces were scheduled to retreat back to the town, most soldiers were currently tied up with preparations. Even so, vigilance at the watchtower had not lapsed; the soldiers stationed atop it maintained their posts by torchlight, fulfilling their duty.

Pity that in the dead of night, visual scouting relied entirely on moonlight, for torches could illuminate very little.

Several dark figures had already crept close. By the time the sentry reacted, his throat had already been slit. Staring in terror at the humanoid creature biting into his neck, the soldier breathed his last.

Riverbend Town was still a considerable distance from this riverbank, and the watchtower served as the sole line of warning.

With the sentry eliminated, a massive horde of ghouls safely crossed the river. Under the cover of night, they slowly closed in on the silent town.

"Heh, hahaha! Just as I thought, with the frontline so heavily strained, this town couldn't possibly spare many troops for defense," the officer named Lafort chuckled aloud.

Originally, he hadn't even thought of crossing the river to raid this town; he was unfamiliar with the local geography and didn't even know where the settlement was located. But as luck would have it, one of his soldiers happened to be a bloodborn originally from this very town. Prompted by that soldier's suggestion, Lafort realized the surprise attack had a high chance of success and decisively led a detachment here.

The outcome met his expectations. He could already envision the carnage he would unleash once he breached the town.

Nevertheless, basic military sense prevented him from rushing in recklessly. Instead, he began scouting the perimeter and deploying the limited number of ghouls he had brought. He aimed to seize the town in a single stroke with minimal casualties, destroying the logistics hub of the Earl's army.

Crimson darkness began to bleed across the town.

Inside the town, within the courtyard where Kana had been staying, Kana's eyes snapped open as he bolted upright from his bed. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

"A nightmare?"

He had woken abruptly, as if startled by a nightmare, yet he lacked the lingering emotional residue of one. Instead, he felt every hair on his body standing on end.

"Danger?"

This sensation felt thoroughly wrong—not like a hazard directed personally at him.

Suddenly, a ringing sensation pierced his ears.

"Giant bats!"

The familiar sensation washed over him, and Kana instantly leaped out of bed.