Chapter 70

: To Survive and to Live (Part 2)


So, executor, did you think about it?


Yes.

The Warlord asked Ramphil whom he was going to chase – the White Witch or the undercover operative. Ramphil told the Warlord that he needed some time to think about it, and the Warlord asked Ramphil to see if he had made up his mind.
Ramphil thought that it was good that he asked the devil hunter for advice. Ramphil calmly looked at the Warlord and answered,
I am going after the White Witch.


I see…

It meant that the war was not avoidable. As Zin had evaluated objectively, Ramphil determined that it was better for the war to break out sooner and finish as soon as possible.
And even if the Central Asia division were destroyed, it didn’t matter to Ramphil. The Warlord was not in a position to give an order to Ramphil. And the Warlord had no intention to do so, anyways.

Personally, I was hoping that you would choose to go after the operative.

The Warlord would have to deal with the war as the leader of the fortress. It was clear that the war was going to be fierce and that his family and the fortress could be completely destroyed.
During the times of war, the kids would think that the adults went out for a short trip. The Warlord felt pain as he imagined the kids playing and laughing without realizing that their parents and siblings would die in the war. The Warlord felt terrible picturing how the kids would react to the death of their loved ones.
The Warlord thought how much more sorrow would be in the land. So he made a suggestion to Ramphil.
However, Ramphil, the executor, was not someone who could be swayed. The Warlord could talk to Ramphil, but could not give orders to him.
The Warlord also agreed that the White Witch was a real, dangerous, and imminent threat to the world.
Zin hurried to the control room of the manufacturing facility. Zin was inside the 52nd control room, the smallest facility in the fortress. It was not one of the main production facilities, and small parts such as bolts and nuts usually were manufactured here.
The huge devices were cutting the parts needed for the repair of the armored vehicle. The manufacturing devices were built based on 3D printing technology, building models based on input data.
Zin would be able to make anything as long as he had the materials. Wargrave was able to repair and maintain all their equipment at this humongous facility.

How do you know how to handle this machine?

As Zin operated the machines, the technician was amazed at Zin’s skill. Zin was able to smoothly operate the Wargrave production machines, similar to how he operated the recovery device in Busan fortress.

It’s something that I picked up along the way.

The technician didn’t believe his words, but he didn’t interfere with the hunter. Only Zin and the technician were in the control room.
As Zin input values into the machine, the cartridges were cut by the machine, and the chipdust and powder filled the cartridges. There were plenty of materials, and Zin quietly watched the bullets stack up.
Zin did not talk and sat down silently.
Leona enjoyed playing with the kids, but she was happier that there were a lot of entertainment at the Wargrave fortress.

Leona, are you sure this is your first time playing this?


I don’t know. I must be talented, right?
Leona laughed back and continued to look at the monitor.

That is so…

—Tap, Tap! —
Sara was amazed at how fast Leona was moving her hands while using the computer keyboard and mouse to play the games. Residents of the fortress used computers, and Wargrave placed computers for playing games. The computer was the best and most efficient machine to install several games on. Initially, Leona wondered why Wargrave would even build such a device, but soon she was having fun playing the games on the computer.
It was amazing how much she picked up in such a short period of time. All the kids except Sara were sitting on a chair and playing video games. Leona and the kids were playing the
War of the Wasteland
, a PvP real time simulation game.
It was not a simple game but was similar to a war game, and it was the best selling game in Wargrave.
The original game was used to test the strategy skills of the Wargrave officers, before being converted to a video game. It was a single player game where the player played as a Wargrave executor. The Wargrave executor had relatively higher stats than other characters. The war game closely reflected the abilities of different characters. There were three groups in the game: Wargrave, people of the wasteland, and monsters.
There were many factors in game play. The Wargrave group had the strongest base, but it was not possible to expand its base. The player would lose if its Wargrave base was destroyed. Each Wargrave unit was powerful, but required a lot of resources to produce. The Wargrave was powerful in the early and mid stage of the game, but it became relatively weaker in the later stage of the game because it was not able to expand to multiple bases.
The monster group produced units in bulk, and it could summon a powerful large monster in the middle stage of the game. It was also immune to environmental factors. When monsters utilized the skill ‘consume’ to kill an enemy unit, the player gained extra resources.
The player would lose if all their bases were destroyed.
The wasteland people group was the weakest group. Nobody really played using this group. The Wargrave group was the strongest group, and many people played using that group. The players enjoyed playing the monster group because the monsters were powerful and a quick expansion was possible. Compared to the two groups, the wasteland people group was extremely weak. The units were weak and vulnerable to the Reavers, the NPC units. The wasteland people were able to utilize resources that the other groups couldn’t. However, they needed to find ruins in order to upgrade their skills.
The only reliable unit was the ‘hunter’ unit. The wasteland people group needed to utilize this unit in order to survive the early stage of the game. The losing condition of the wasteland group was the death of all the units. However, the hardest part was surviving the early and mid stages of the game. If the player was able to survive the early stage of game, the player was able to use nuclear weapons, the most powerful weapons in the game. The wasteland people group usually ended up being the strongest group towards the end of the game as they were able to harvest the most resources. The player could wipe out strong enemy units using nuclear missiles. Wargrave fortresses were taken out by nullifying their anti-air defense system, and then attacking with nuclear missile and bunker busters.
In theory, the wasteland people group was the strongest group in the late games, but a Wargrave player would usually initiate the attack earlier.
Leona tried playing with all three different groups as soon as she saw the game. After that, she only played using the wasteland people group. The other kids advised Leona to use a different group because the wasteland sucked, but Leona continued to play using the wasteland people group.
And she kept on winning many times.
Although Leona was good at the game for someone who played it for the first time, objectively speaking, she was not the best. The other kids did not play great against Leona.
The kids only knew how to collect resources and attack at once. As Leona learned how to make strategic moves, the kids were not able to defeat her. As an example in the game, Leona defeated the Wargrave’s infantry battalion with a troop of hunters.
Even though Leona had never seen a computer, she was playing the game at an expert level. The wasteland game was the perfect game for Leona.
Everybody knew about the War of Wasteland game, and most of the fortresses held a game league. The game was popular and enjoyed by everybody.
Kids including Leona, teenagers, and adults played the game in front of the computer.
Sara was marveling at how fast Leona was using her keyboard and mouse.

Why do you always play as the wasteland folks? Try playing with the Wargrave or the monsters.

Sara mainly used the monster group, and she was suggesting Leona to use the group, but Leona stuck to her group.
I just like them.

As the game dragged on, Leona focused on the game even more and played.
A wasteland people unit became a vagabond if the unit was exposed to the polluted environment for too long. The unit would become an NPC monster that attacked their former allies. The wasteland people group seemed to be unable to use them.
However, Leona used this to her advantage.
If a unit was about to become a vagabond, she would put the unit on a junkwagon, and crash the junkwagon into the enemy troops. The vagabond that would turn into an NPC attacking the enemy troops.
Sometimes, Leona raised the poison level of her units and fought against the enemies. Enemy troops would come out to take Leona’s vagabonds. Then Leona’s small troop of vagabonds turned into monsters and destroyed the larger enemy troops.
The game was heading into the late stages.
Leona felt bad for winning the game so many times, so she was planning to lose on purpose. Although she had the power to wipe out the other players’ troops, she was letting the opponents win the game.

Hahahah, sis! This time, I’m going to win!


You thought that you would be winning all the time, right?

Leona would have gone easy, except for certain people.
The two little kids started to provoke Leona, as they were winning the game. Leona knew that they had no bad intentions.
However, Leona was starting to get pissed off, as the kids continued mocking her.

Hah, you will need to stop right now.


Huh? You don’t even have any units…


Shut up, kids!
Leona yelled as she laughed with an evil smile, and shocking the kids.

You guys are getting cocky now? I will finish you all off.
After yelling at the kids, Leona started to play the game again. She gathered more units and resources. However, Leona had lost some units previously, and her army was weak.
Damn…
On top of that, there were enemy units that were a pain in the butt.
They were the final boss units.
The monster and the Wargrave groups each had a boss unit. In the case of the Wargrave group, the executor was the boss unit. The executor unit could be produced at a faster pace in multiple numbers.
The monster group’s boss unit was the ‘devil’, and a player could only produce one devil unit. The unit consumed no resources, provided useful buffs to its ally units, and possessed the capability to summon large monsters. The unit even regenerated after death.
On the other hand, there was no boss unit for the wasteland people group.
I don’t want just nuclear missiles. I want a boss unit!
Leona was getting mad as the enemies’ devil and executor units massacred her units. The little kids only attacked and didn’t enter other commands. They usually brought all of their units into attack.
Leona retreated and drew in the enemy executor troops.

What? What? What happened?!

—Kabooom! —
The flash filled up the monitor, and the nuclear missile instantly wiped out the Wargrave units in a split second. Leona lured the enemies to where the nuclear missile was launched, and killed many units, including her own units.

This does not make sense!
One of the kids started to cry, as the kid’s remaining units were sniped and wiped away by the hunter units.