Chapter 104: [104] : The Siege Punch, Tax Evasion

Declan walked up the concrete stairs of the ruined subway station.

The heavy, toxic rain of Sector 7 hit his face the moment he stepped back onto the street level.

He didn’t bother using stealth. He didn’t activate the Shadow Meld trait on his coat to turn invisible.

He just strolled out into the open with his hands casually stuffed into his pockets, acting like he was taking a walk in the park.

The AI broker at the terminal had not been exaggerating at all.

The street was completely blocked off!

Standing in perfect, highly disciplined military formation in the middle of the ruined avenue was a massive hit squad.

There were exactly fifty players waiting for him.

They didn’t look like the cheap, disorganized thugs from the Black Vanguard who tried to charge tolls on bridges.

And they didn’t look like the sleek, sci-fi corporate assassins of the Apex Hounds.

These guys looked like walking, heavily armored tanks!

They all wore heavy, overlapping plates of dark gray steel armor.

The metal was thick, riveted, and completely devoid of any flashy guild logos.

Massive iron tower shields rested on the wet asphalt in front of the front line, forming an impenetrable wall.

The rain washed over their heavy iron helmets, completely hiding their faces behind thick, narrow visors.

The backline held long, glowing spears that crackled with violent red energy.

They stood perfectly still. Nobody was talking. Nobody was laughing. They just waited.

They were the Praetorian Guard. The apex predators of Sector 6.

Looks like they came early to the party.

Standing right at the front of the shield wall, completely exposed, was a player who made the rest of the heavy knights look small.

He was easily seven feet tall and built like a commercial refrigerator.

His armor was not the standard gray. It was a deep, polished crimson red, absolutely covered in heavy kinetic plating and hydraulic servos.

He didn’t carry a shield. He didn’t even have a weapon drawn.

He just stood there in the rain, cracking his massive, armored knuckles.

A golden system tag hovered prominently over his head.

[Name: Darius]

[Level: 50]

[Class: Juggernaut]

Declan stopped walking. He stood about thirty feet away from the heavy frontline.

He looked at the fifty heavily armed players, and then he looked up at the giant in the red armor.

"You guys are early," Declan said.

His voice was completely flat, cutting through the sound of the rain easily.

"The server announcement said the sectors merge in seventy-two hours. You’re trespassing."

Darius laughed. It was a deep, rumbling sound that echoed off the ruined brick buildings around them.

"The system rules don’t apply when the borders are falling apart, Warlord," Darius sneered.

His voice was heavy and full of pure, unfiltered arrogance.

"We bought a dozen high-tier coordinate trackers off the dark web just to find your exact biometric signature. You’re a hard guy to pin down."

"I like my privacy," Declan replied smoothly. He didn’t break eye contact. "What do you want?"

"We want the Sanctum Core," Darius stated plainly.

He pointed a massive, armored finger directly at Declan.

"My corporate sponsors back in Sector 6 watched the live satellite feeds. We know you hijacked the World Boss drop. We know you planted an absolute safe zone right in the middle of this slum."

Darius took a heavy step forward.

The ground actually shook under his heavy boots!

"Sector 6 is completely overrun," Darius continued, his voice echoing loudly.

"We need a new base of operations before the servers fully merge and the Abyssal Tide resets."

"The Iron Bastion belongs to the Praetorian Guard now. Transfer the administrative rights to me, hand over the core, and we let you walk away."

Declan just stared at him.

He didn’t pull out the +20 Carnage Cleaver. He didn’t summon the massive +40 Eclipse Severance halberd from his digital storage.

He just stood there in the rain, looking completely bored.

"Or what?" Declan asked.

"Or we delete you," Darius growled, his tone turning highly aggressive.

"You might have killed a few corporate suits in a boardroom and glitched a boss monster, but you’ve never fought a fully coordinated Vanguard unit."

"We are all Level 45 and above. You’re completely surrounded."

Declan looked around the empty, rain-slicked street.

There were fifty of them. One of him. The math was entirely on their side.

In a normal game, a solo player didn’t survive a fifty-man raid group. It didn’t matter what gear you had.

The action economy alone would stagger you to death.

The shield wall would pin you, the spears would bleed you, and the tanks would crush you.

But Declan wasn’t playing a normal game!

His real-world synchronization rate was at eighty percent. His physical body possessed the raw density of a collapsing star.

He wasn’t just a guy wearing a good coat anymore.

"I don’t transfer my property," Declan said coldly, narrowing his dark, void-filled eyes.

"And I definitely don’t take orders from a guy who looks like a walking stop sign."

The members of the Praetorian Guard tensed.

The sound of shifting metal echoed down the street.

The spearmen in the back raised their weapons, aiming the glowing red tips directly at Declan’s chest.

Darius’s face twisted into a mask of pure rage.

The thick veins on his neck bulged against his crimson collar. Nobody insulted the leader of the Guard.

"Arrogant little rat," Darius spat. He slammed his fists together.

"I’m going to turn you into a red smear on this pavement. Squad, hold the perimeter! Do not engage! I’ll crush him myself!"

Darius didn’t pull a sword. He didn’t draw a mace.

As a Level 50 Juggernaut, his entire class build was centered around raw, unarmed kinetic destruction.

He didn’t need a weapon. He was the weapon!

He planted his massive boots into the asphalt. The ground cracked instantly under the pressure.

Bright, blinding yellow energy began to pool around his heavy crimson gauntlets.

The air around him actually started to warp and distort from the sheer amount of physical force being generated by the game’s engine.

A system warning flashed frantically in Declan’s vision.

[Warning: High-Yield Kinetic Skill Detected.]

[Skill: Kinetic Siege Punch]

[Type: Ultimate Cybernetic Attack]

[Description: Concentrates all of the user’s mass and momentum into a single point. Deals 15,000 base physical damage. Designed to instantly shatter fortified structures and level buildings.]

"Die!" Darius roared.

He lunged forward like a runaway freight train.

He crossed the thirty-foot gap between them in a fraction of a second.

The heavy red armor blurred as he threw his entire body weight into a devastating, straight right punch aimed directly at the center of Declan’s chest.

The kinetic energy surrounding the fist was so intense that it blew the toxic rain away in a massive, circular shockwave before the punch even landed.

It looked like a military missile strike condensed into a single glowing glove.

Declan didn’t dodge. He didn’t use Void Blink to teleport away. He didn’t even shift his stance to brace for the impact.

He just calmly pulled his left hand out of his pocket.

’System,’ Declan thought, his mind accessing his inventory instantly. ’Black Aegis.’

The air in front of his forearm distorted violently.

The +20 mutated titanium riot shield materialized instantly, locking onto his arm with a heavy, metallic clank.

The matte-black, physics-defying surface absorbed the glaring yellow light coming from the Juggernaut’s fist.

Darius didn’t stop. He couldn’t stop.

He drove the Siege Punch right into the center of the dark shield with absolutely everything he had.