Chapter 6: Growing Troubles

"Is everyone okay?" Ryuu asked in a panic once everyone returned, Azra having sent him a message just moments ago about it.

"Yeah, we are good" Azra mentioned.

""Same for us, thanks to Azra"" the twins said in unison. Although they were twins, they didn't do that often...though in this case, the answer was simple and could have been easily expected.

Still, Ryuu fussed over it something fierce. Eventually though, Azra got him to calm down and explained things in detail.

"I cant believe those jerks..." Ryuu said, hearing Azra repeat what he heard the thugs say. "What did you do with them, anyways?"

"Ah, I dropped them off to the Keepers of the Dawn, along with their order, and mentioned the crimes they commited, and tried to commit. It seems they are setting up a jail or such, so that should be good".

"I see. Well, it seems that mental instability should have been expected...but to think it would be this bad, or hit this close to home so soon".

"It does seem weird...we should probably check in on things, collect information. Azra?"

"Got it. I will go around and gather all the information I can" he mentioned, heading out again.

"...and he says I was making a fuss, when he bolts out the door the moment he has something to do about this" Ryuu mentioned to himself, before looking at the twins. "Right...well, for now, lets focus on making some new gear for you then, and planning ahead. Seems like we will need to postpone any more gathering sessions for the time being".

THe twins nodded, and with that, Ryuu got to work.

Meanwhile, south of the city...

"What the hell is all this?!" one of the Adventurers mentioned, as he pushed back another orc with his shield. They had just been searching around, looking for more harvesting sites, but for some reason they ended up encountering Orcs instead. The Orcs, which had a far greater amount of forces gathered then usual in this area, were doing all they could to attack and take down the adventurers.

Simply put, it was really abnormal, and before they had noticed, the Orcs were already moving to surround them and cut them off.

"What will we do?" another member of his party, a mage, replied. They were burning through potions like crazy, and they would not have much supplies left. Although it was possible to respawn and not die, they also knew that if enough damage was done or other factors met, they could die for real.

"We need to retreat!"

"But they wont let us!"

As the orcs gathered, the mage released a barrier to try and hold them back. However, from within the forest, a much larger Orc began to appear.

"Oh no..."

"What? What is it?"

"Its...its an Orc King! Level 50!"

"Seriously?!"

The situation was getting worse and worse.

"We need to pull back! We might take some damage, but its better then staying here! Myruu, send a message to anyone you have added as a friend back at the city! Let them know we need help and reinforcements, quickly!"

And so, the party attempted to pull back while calling for help.

Orcs. One of the iconic monsters of the fantasy genre, often described as being piglike, green skinned, or just plain ugly.

As such, they also made an appearance in Aurion. Programmed to appear at various levels around the world, they could be said to be as common as undead, goblins, and other classic enemy types. So naturally, they also have lore behind them. In fact, one of the great things about Aurion, and the Company who made it, was that they went into full detail. Every monster species has backstory, descriptions, notes. They even had detailed anatomy designs, and had various different physical characteristics.

Its what made Aurion, and the games that came before it, so popular. Full immersion lore, even for enemies. Detailed right to the core.

However...this is also what makes this new world dangerous. Aside from spawning, those details mean they can breed on their own. While level restrictions to apply for the most part, Game Events could sometimes generate. And one of them featured such a classic foe: The Invasion of the Orc Army.

Every so often, an Orc King would generate, and gather a large amount of followers. Then, they would launch attacks on various Hub Cities. Depending on how much effort the players put into defeating him, it could have little to no repercussions, but it could also cause massive damage on Guild Halls, supply houses, and worst case scenario, the destruction of a city.

ANd this Orc King, and his Orc Army, was also detailed. Even various different tactics were implimented to them, which would be randomlly selected, or even decided by the AI. Or maybe, even just decided by the Orcs themselves.

Orcs were vile and dirty creatures. They liked to take females from other races to mate, although in Aurion, Female Orcs could also exist. Orcs also were known in lore for stripping captured males, and then eating them live.

Of course, in the original game, there were limits even to the AI and the monsters, and what they could do. But this was no longer a game....this was reality.

And reality might not be so kind.

Azra frownded when he heard what had happened. Although he knew himself that this was a better alternative to risking everyone possibly dying along with the earth, it couldn't be helped he felt a bit bad about all this. After all, this was still a reaction to his action.

Apparently, there were people taking advantage of the chaos, or those who fell into despair and decided to feed carnal desires, taking it out on other players. Even children, or those who appeared as children, had been targeted. It left a bitter taste in Azra's mouth.

Maybe...I could have at least excluded them....but...I didn't have the time to be picky...

What he was thinking of in this instance was the unfortunate danger of all games. It was the reason no one was ever supposed to give out their real life information online, especially in a full immersion VRMMO. And that was due to the sick and twisted people out there...who would try to target children. Or others, who maybe dont target children, but would target the older players, such as vulnerable females who while in the VR could become victims in the real world.

Of course, normally there would be moderators, admins, and such to keep this from happening in the VR world. Plus, one could always log out to escape. But here, none of those mechanics worked. Because this was the real world.

It appeared Azra would be quite busy for the next few days.

"Thats a scary expression you have there, AI-kun" a voice called out from behind him. He turned, and saw it was a Rogue with the Keepers of the Dawn, Azlan Doreta.

"What are you doing here?"

"Ah, well you see...some moron tried to have his way with one of our female members...not realizing who she was I guess, because he got his ass kicked very quickly. Still, the boss is also rather annoyed at this development, and asked me to investigate".

Although he had a smile on his face, and his voice seemed a bit carefree, Azra could tell that like himself, there was a cold anger inside of him.

"I see...and the methods?"

"Well...the Keepers of the Dawn are trying to provide some measure of safety and security in the city, and we try to avoid taking things too far...but, right now, there are people in danger. And we also were told to do whatever it takes when lives and souls are in danger...so, what do you say. Want to do an 'investigation' together?"

"...sure. At the very least, it will help me vent some steam".

And so, this day would be marked with a sudden purge of the city, taking down the most obvious scum that could be found.

"Ahhhh...and there. A brand new sword for Ria" Ryuu said as he handed her a sword. "I used some basalisk scales from a basalisk we hunted the other day, down in the Forgotten Abyss, so this sword actually has some interesting effects. It protects you from being stunned, and also applies a poisonous status effect that is not normal poison, so cant be resisted by poison resist. It causes the enemies hit to lose speed and attack power, which will help you fight multiple people at once. It also can unleash an energy strike that can stun enemies".

"Ooooh, this looks really nice!"

"Yes. Also, as you can see, I also added the modification you requested, so it also doubles as an electric guitar. This allows it to produce sound ranged attacks, that will still be based on your strength and attack stats".

"Sweet! Now I can really lay down the beats!"

"As for you RIo, I developed the two staffs. The first is the basic staff, easier to use and more portable" Ryuu mentioned, handing a metal rod with a crystal on top. However, Rio eyed the box he was handed. "This is the other staff, in portable mode. It was a bit hard to make, but I figured it out. Now, when you use it fully, its power will be far stronger, but you will lose all mobility. Still...I must admit, it is pretty cool".

"Thanks!"

"With this, I just gotta know..."

Before Ryuu could ask his question, his door got knocked on. Hard. He went over to open it.

"Emergency request" a blonde haired Elari boy said, wearing a study blue coat with black stripes, and a golden bird insignia. He was a member of the small Messenger Guild, Icarus Post. They are a group of players who, due to the limitations of the friend messaging system, and some worries about if they could be intercepted, developed a proper postal service.

And it appeared right now, they had been hired to spread the word and get recruits for something.

"A large Orc force has been spotted south of the city! It is headed north with the intention of destroying it! Everyone is requested to please gather at the Southern Plaza! All Guildmasters with Guilds who can contribute, please go to the meeting place, the Adventurers Guild that is there! I repeat, this is an emergency request!"

"Understood! Please go and find whoever else you can. Rio, Ria, we are heading towards the Southern Plaza. Gear up, and get ready for combat. We cant let the city fall...it wont be pleasant for anyone".

Realizing what Ryuu meant, the two quickly steeled themselves and geared up, before heading out with Ryuu after he messaged the other members.

In this place, the Adventurers Guild, had a meeting room. And at the moment, several prominant guildmasters were there.

An ultimate collection of leaders of the most notable Guilds.

Ryuu, from Silvercrest.

Arsmosis, from Keepers of the Dawn.

Raijin Attaro, from Thunder God's Empire.

Adamu, from Market 77.

Atrin, from Golden Globe.

Kamari, from Dragon Knight Brigade.

Yura, from Oracle Tower.

And also, another Elari boy named Soren, from Icarus Post. it seemed Icarus Post would be assisting in communication and logistics, so their Guildmaster was here as well. Other Guildmasters were as well, but no one as big, important, and well known as the others gathered.

"So we have it confirmed? A large force of Orcs coming?"

"Could this be an event? I hope it is".

Events apparently had more Protections against Forced Logouts, which would mean permenant death to a player. Therefore, there was some hope it was an event, since it would mean that it would be harder to die permenantly.

"Given the odditiy of the timing and location, that is probably the case" Arsmosis mentioned. "This is likely the Orc King's Invasion, a regular event with dire consequences of failure....including the destruction of the city, and instant death...Forced Logout death, of those inside".

Hearing that made them understand how grave the situation could be.

"The Orc Army appears to be at least 10 thousand strong, with confirmed sightings of subjugated lower races, like Goblins and Wolves. We should assume heavy fighting will occur.

:"That is quite a number...but the levels?"

"There are enemy elites, but most monsters are below level 20 and have subpar gear. Their numbers might be intimigating, but one on one they would fall to even a low leveled player".

"Hmmm...." Ryuu thought to himself, going to a map on the wall of the nearby region. "If I remember correctly, the hills in this ar...area..."

He tried pointing to a spot on the map, but he was too short to reach it. Arsmosis brought a chair over to him, so he took off his shoes and stood on it.

"This area has a lot of steep hills, but also Snaregrass is right there in the fields below".

Snaregrass was a type of plant like monster that appeared in fields sometimes. It would ensare those who walked though it, trying to rip apart their gear and armaments in the process of tangling them to disarm them and make them helpless. If you saw discarded weapons, potions, even armor or clothes sometimes in the grass, it was a good sign snaregrass was present.

"If we fortify the hills, and attack them from a distance ,we can draw them into the Snaregrass, and any other traps we develop. After that, we pull back, forcing them into more prepared traps, and then fortify on these hills behind it, so we dont get caught in the Snaregrass when our Vanguard forces engage in whatever remains of their armies. There are rocks and mountains on either side, so we should be able to force them through, though we will still need defenders on the flank".

Ryuu had played a lot of strategy games, but also his Intelligence stat was actually assisting his brainpower without him realizing it.

"I agree. That said, I would like to do something else as well. I believe we have some people with flight skills, so I would like to try and weaken them, antagonize them with air attacks before they reach the hills" Arsmosis mentioned.

"I also think we should contruct artillery, cannons and catapults and such" Adamu from Market 77 added.

"In that case, so that we are fighting with people we at least know fairly well, can we move in groups made from our Guild. I know we have only really been here for two weeks, except for Beta Testers, but it should help improve to some degree" the female elf, Yura, suggested.

"I concur with the situation" Kamari, a male wolf like Haldari mentioned.

There was still some doom and gloom in the air, as it was a truly dangerous situation. It could result in mass genocide if they failed too badly. And yet...

"Whatever! If we work together and fight with spirit, it should all work out!" Raijin announced, his aura and statement, along with his smile, inspiring confidence and eased the tension in the air.

Of course, some thought he was rather foolish. They had no way of knowing it was all an act that he was too far into to stop. If they had known the true personality, many would be shocked, and a number would be amused.

"Well then, with that settled...we should prepare immediately. We got the basics of it, and we dont have time to spare".

And just like that, the preparations for war began.