Chương 393: Chapter 376

After they were finished, they went for one last ride through the fracture. Before this small transformation, they had usually torn through everything inside with ease. This time, however, the difference was staggering. Dan's flames had become so intense that even his basic attacks burned through stone and rock, vaporizing anything caught in their path and leaving glowing channels of molten earth behind. Any plasma he summoned instantly began ionizing the air, arcs of plasma slipping out.

Isabella had become even faster. Sam and the others could barely follow her as she zig-zagged across the battlefield at incredible speeds, colorful musical notes trailing behind her like lingering afterimages. She flashed from enemy to enemy in bursts of motion, monsters falling apart moments after she had already moved on. Clarissa's healing spells remained mostly the same, but the power she could put behind them increased.

Every burst of radiant light seemed to slice through reality itself rather than mere air, brilliant arcs of white carving through hordes of enemies as she enthusiastically participated in the destruction. Katie... well, Katie was still Katie. Whatever entity she had made contact with during the ignition of her core had apparently gifted her a new ability. Thick, muscular tentacles erupted from her shoulders, each wielding a massive greatsword of its own.

The blades moved in perfect synchronization with her jagged weapon, turning her into a whirling storm of steel and violence that cut through enemies with terrifying efficiency. Sam's own core ignition had been far simpler than everyone else's. Just a straight-up increase of his mana capacity and a few extras here and there. Most people would have looked at that and scoffed, dismissing it as weak or useless. But with Sam's control and ability to manipulate mana, it was exactly what he needed.

Void crescents as thin as wire flew from his blade in every direction, severing enemies before they even realized they had been attacked. At the same time, a shell of void surrounded his entire body, swallowing any incoming damage before it could reach him. The increase in mana capacity meant he no longer had to be nearly as conservative with his reserves. For the first time in a long while, he could afford to use just a bit more mana, and that allowed him to force his vision upon reality just a little harder.

Then the final boss appeared. Sam immediately stepped back, raised both hands in front of him, and summoned a tiny sphere of void no larger than a golf ball. While the rest of the team charged forward to engage the towering creature, he focused entirely on the sphere. He began pumping more and more mana into it. His regeneration already bordered on absurd, and when combined with Clarissa's buffs, he became practically inexhaustible. Mana poured into the tiny orb in a constant torrent.

The amount he crammed into it would have drained a small mana crystal mine dry. Yet he kept going. One minute later, with the boss finally reduced to half health, Sam nodded to himself.

"Done!" The team scattered. Towering above them stood a caricature of a demon, complete with giant, malicious red eyes, long, wicked claws, and a black robe decorated with skulls and bones. Clearly, the Spirit of Flame's caricature at work, showing how it saw the demon that attempted to capture it. Sam looked up at it and grinned, then, with a movement so casual it almost seemed disrespectful, he tossed the tiny sphere toward the boss. Despite the negligent gesture, the orb shot forward like a bullet.

Accelerated by his magic, it crossed the distance so quickly that the demon didn't even have time to react to the team suddenly retreating. Which was important because while they had become absurdly powerful, a boss was still a boss. One mistake was all it would take for someone to get one-shot. Sam watched the void magic make contact with the surprised boss… The tiny sphere struck the demon square in the chest. The containment shattered. Thousands of ribbons of void erupted outward in every direction.

For a brief moment, it reminded him of an abstract art exhibit Lucy had dragged him to one weekend. Countless dark lines spread outward in impossible patterns, twisting and crossing over one another. Every path touched by a ribbon simply ceased to exist. The void consumed everything in its reach. WHUMMMMM A heartbeat later, the soundwave arrived. The impact slammed into them like a wall of pressure, hurling everything not firmly anchored to the ground through the air as they watched the boss fall to pieces.

Half an hour later, they were walking down the newly created road connecting the fracture to the bay and the small settlement being built there. Katie led the group, both hands resting behind her head as she happily whistled a tune. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Isabella walked beside her girlfriend, while Dan and Clarissa trailed a few steps behind Sam.

Suddenly, Katie spun around and began walking backward down the road, staring directly at him.

"So, boss..." she said.

"Now that we've reached two hundred, are we finally going to kick the Blood Army's teeth in?" Isabella turned around as well, apparently completely unconcerned about walking backward.

"I've been hearing things from my cousins..."

"Oh?" Sam asked.

"What kind of things?" Isabella grimaced.

"The kind of things I hate. The Blood Army has been reaching out to anyone willing to listen, looking for support." She pointed at herself and Katie.

"They even approached our families."

"And?" Sam asked, completely unbothered. It wasn't exactly surprising. He had spent months establishing himself as the strongest player in the game. If the Blood Army wasn't desperately searching for every advantage they could find, they would be idiots.

"Most of the major families have been saying, through various private channels, that they're staying out of the conflict..." Isabella said, rolling her eyes.

"Does that mean what I think it means?" Sam asked idly. Dan and Clarissa picked up their pace, drawing closer as they listened to the conversation. Katie snorted.

"Pretty much. Those assholes can't even lie properly." She shook her head.

"I guarantee that even if they don't publicly support them, there are secret channels and backroom deals everywhere."

"So I'm about to become the centerpiece of a proxy war between the major families," Sam concluded. Katie and Isabella nodded in sync.

"And," he continued, "I assume they're probably operating under the assumption that your families and Lara's family are supporting me." The two girls nodded again. Katie grinned.

"I mean, technically, we are supporting you by not going against you." She giggled a little.

"Once was enough for father…"

"Indeed," Isabella explained.

"Just the fact that you're friendly with Katie, Lara, and me is enough for most of those families to assume this is some kind of four-dimensional chess move on one of our family's parts." Clarissa cut in immediately.

"No, it's worse. It's a five-dimensional checker move from Sam."

"You really have a lot of faith in me…" he commented. Clarissa folded her arms.

"Please. It's not like you don't already have a plan that would completely invalidate whatever plan those big families are cooking up." She stared at him expectantly. Katie and Isabella, still walking backward as if they had been doing this all their lives, also fixed their eyes on him. Even Dan's stare from behind felt like it was drilling into the back of his skull. Sam met all of them with a perfectly neutral expression. He did have a plan.

It was a very stupid plan, but so far, stupid had been working remarkably well for him.

"So?" Katie asked, practically vibrating with excitement.

"What are we doing? Assassination? Murder? Pie-eating contest?" Sam shrugged.

"Just send a list of families to Lucy. She'll handle the rest."

"Booo!" Katie immediately booed him.

"Come on, Sam! Share with the class! I promise I won't make fun of them too much!"

"Last time only two people cried," Isabella agreed with her girlfriend.

"See! I'm improving!" Katie declared. Sam let out a sigh.

"Fine…" For a moment, he stayed silent, weighing whether to make something up on the spot. Then he decided to just tell the truth.

"The simple fact is that everybody hates the Blood Army. They made themselves the villains," he began.

"They know they need an overwhelming victory to rewrite the history books, so to speak, and declare us the villains instead. I'm sure there's already an entire network of bots being prepared to manipulate public opinion. Not to mention influences, streamers, and whatever else they plan to use."

"Standard operating procedure," Isabella agreed.

"So my idea was this," Sam continued.

"If they want to win that badly… why don't we help them?"

"Huh?"

"What?" Sam smiled a touch proudly.

"Right now, those families are silently supporting them. Money, resources, players, access to services, information. Their stake is low. They're basically just hedging their bets in case I lose." He took a small breath.

"So let's make them serious stakeholders."

"I still don't get it," Katie said, but Isabella's eyes widened, her mouth hanging slightly open as she began to understand. Sam's smile widened a fraction.

"It's simple. Right now, the Blood Army is led by a single unified voice, the Blood Brothers. They may be brothers, but they still act in lockstep and share the same goals."

"Meanwhile," he continued, "companies and major families are not like that. They all have different opinions, different objectives, different endgames." Katie tilted her head.

"So what, you want them to start arguing with each other?"

"Pretty much," Sam agreed.

"At first, it will look like they are winning thanks to the influx of money and support. That will only accelerate things, pulling in more investment as families rush to grab their own piece of the pie." Clarissa scoffed.

"I knew you had a plan." Sam nodded.

"Then all it takes is a small push, from someone like Lucy or maybe Tim, and the whole thing implodes."

"I don't know if I should pity them or laugh…" Isabella muttered. They kept walking down the new road, all of them glancing at Sam with slightly uneasy expressions, while he simply strolled forward with a calm, faint smile. ­­ They were met by an army of workers and guild members at the edge of the jungle, now sprawling across most of the island as construction of the Heavenly Island Resort continued in full force.

Most of the guild members were crafters, but a significant number were dedicated to protection, keeping both workers and NPCs safe from the island's remaining wildlife. With the fractures gone and the jungle reclaiming lost ground, everyone had expected the monsters to return eventually. No one was willing to take chances. It took a moment for people to register what they were seeing.

But as Sam and his team stepped into the camp that now consumed the entire bayfront beach, conversation died mid-sentence, people stopped what they were doing, and even the ambient noise of work and movement seemed to fade as players, and even some NPCs, slowly turned toward them. Sam and the team waved at the gathered crowd, greeting those brave enough to approach them.

They shook hands, exchanged a few words of small talk, and accepted the occasional well-wishes before one of the guild officers finally spotted them. Within moments, several high-ranking guild guards had formed a loose escort around the group, guiding them through the sea of workers and players. The crowd parted as they passed. Eventually, they arrived at a temporary structure surrounded by tall wooden walls erected to provide at least some measure of privacy amid the chaos of the construction site.

The moment they stepped through the gates, they were greeted by organized madness. People hurried in every direction with stacks of paperwork clutched to their chests. Messengers darted between tables. Assistants rushed from meeting to meeting carrying maps, reports, and hastily scribbled notes. Their escort peeled away, returning to their duties, while one of the assistants immediately hurried over, bowed, and led the team deeper into the compound. At the center of it all was a large planning room.

A giant blueprint covered most of the central table, surrounded by smaller maps, reports, and enough paperwork to bury a person. Standing over it were Lucy and Lara, quietly discussing something while tracing routes and markings across the plans, occasionally pointing, writing something down, or crossing it out. Upon hearing the newcomers enter, both women looked up and smiled at them. Despite everything, Sam felt the tension he hadn't even realized he was carrying slip from his shoulders.

"Ready to pave over paradise and build a different paradise?" Lucy called out, a small smile playing on her lips as she looked directly into his eyes. Sam laughed.

"I sure do!"