Chapter 14: [14] : The Vanguard’s Retaliation, Juggernaut

Declan climbed out of the ravine, leaving the pixelated remains of the Stone Golem behind. His Origin Point balance ticked up by another hefty chunk. Mini-bosses paid well.

"Alright, playtime is over," Declan said, tossing a small health potion to Sloane. "We need to head toward the Sector 5 border. This zone is getting boring."

Sloane caught the potion and shoved it into her bag. "Boring? You just turned a rock monster into baby powder. I don’t think we’re playing the same game."

They started walking toward the main path that led out of the Ashlands. The terrain slowly began to slope upward, funneling into a narrow canyon pass.

Kendra ran ahead to scout, quickly disappearing into the jagged rocks. Declan and Sloane followed at a normal pace.

"So, what is the plan when we actually reach a city?" Sloane asked. "You can’t just murder everything. The game has safe zones with guards. High-level NPC guards."

"I’ll play nice in the cities," Declan replied. "I just need a place with a decent forge and an auction house. I have too much junk in my inventory."

Before Sloane could answer, Kendra came sprinting back down the canyon path. She wasn’t holding her bow. She looked completely panicked. She slid to a stop in front of them, kicking up a cloud of gray ash.

"We have a problem," Kendra gasped, pointing back up the path. "A really big problem."

"Did you pull another boss?" Declan asked lazily.

"No. It’s players," Kendra said, catching her breath. "It’s the Black Vanguard. They are blocking the canyon exit."

Sloane groaned and rubbed her face. "Of course they are. How many?"

"Fifty," Kendra said, her voice shaking. "I counted at least fifty guys. They have heavy shields, crossbows, and mages. And Gideon is with them."

"Gideon?" Sloane frowned. "Declan chopped him into pieces at the bridge. He’s dead."

Declan blinked. "Wait. He respawned?"

"Standard PvP kills just trigger a respawn, Sloane," Kendra explained quickly, her voice shaking. "The system takes a level and drops their active inventory, but they don’t stay dead. The only thing that permanently deletes an avatar and fries your real-world brain is a ’True Death’...like starving, or getting killed by a Purge event."

Declan stared at her. That was a massive oversight. He had been treating kills like they were permanent. They weren’t. "Where did he spawn?"

"Probably at the nearest camp," Kendra said. "He must have rallied his entire guild to come hunt us down. They are completely blocking the only way out of this zone. We need to turn around and hide."

Declan looked past Kendra, up the sloping canyon path. The walls were steep and jagged. There was no way to climb out. The only way forward was through the chokepoint.

He didn’t pull out his cleaver. He didn’t pull out his halberd. He just adjusted the collar of his pitch-black Predator’s Coat.

’Hide?’ Declan laughed softly. "I’m not walking backward for anyone."

He walked right past Kendra and headed straight up the path.

"Declan, stop!" Sloane hissed, jogging after him. "There are fifty of them! You have a cool weapon, but you’re only Level 6! If fifty people hit you at once, you will die!"

"Just stay behind me," Declan said. "And enjoy the show."

He reached the top of the incline. The canyon opened up slightly, forming a natural arena before the exit.

Kendra wasn’t exaggerating. The Black Vanguard was waiting for him.

Fifty players stood in a tight, organized military formation. The front line was made of ten guys holding massive iron tower shields. Behind them were warriors with spears and swords. In the back, a dozen players held loaded crossbows, and five players in robes held staffs glowing with low-level fire magic.

Standing in front of the shield wall was Gideon.

He looked entirely different than he did at the bridge. He was a level lower now. He didn’t have his glowing red broadsword anymore. He had lost that when Declan killed him. Instead, he was holding a cheap iron longsword. His face was twisted in pure, unhinged rage.

When Gideon saw Declan walk over the ridge, he raised his sword and pointed it right at Declan’s chest.

"There he is!" Gideon screamed. "The hacker!"

The entire Vanguard formation tensed. Weapons were raised. Crossbows were aimed.

Declan stopped walking. He stood casually with his hands in his pockets. Sloane and Kendra huddled behind a large rock a few yards back, too terrified to move.

"You got a lot of nerve showing your face here," Gideon spat, taking a few steps forward. "You think you can just embarrass me? You think you can steal my bridge?"

"It was a public bridge," Declan said flatly. "And you’re blocking public traffic again. You guys really suck at urban planning."

Gideon’s face turned purple. "Kill him! Fire everything! I want him pinned to the dirt!"

The backline reacted instantly.

Twelve crossbow bolts snapped through the air. Five small fireballs arched over the shield wall, trailing black smoke. They all zeroed in on Declan.

Declan didn’t move a single muscle. He didn’t even blink.

The bolts and the fireballs slammed into him simultaneously. The impact kicked up a cloud of ash and smoke, completely hiding his body.

"Yeah!" Gideon cheered. "Keep firing! Don’t let him move!"

Before the crossbowmen could reload, a cold, calm voice echoed from inside the smoke cloud.

"My turn."

Declan stepped out of the smoke. His +10 Predator’s Coat didn’t have a single scorch mark on it. The fifty points of flat defense had completely eaten the low-level projectiles and magic. The crossbow bolts were lying harmlessly on the ground around his boots.

Gideon’s eyes went wide. "What the hell is his defense stat?!"

Declan didn’t give them time to figure it out.

"Void Blink," Declan thought.

He vanished.

The vanguard frontline braced their shields, expecting him to charge. But Declan didn’t attack the front. He teleported fifteen meters forward, bypassing the shield wall entirely, and appeared directly in the middle of the soft backline.

Right in between the mages and the crossbowmen.

A mage in a blue robe turned around, his jaw dropping. "He’s behind us!"

Declan reached into his inventory. The heavy, dark iron shaft of the +10 Warden’s Halberd materialized in his hands.

He gripped it tight. He swung it horizontally to clear some space, knocking three archers off their feet, then he raised the massive block of dark steel high over his head.

"Look out!" a warrior yelled, rushing backward.

Declan brought the halberd down directly onto a warrior wearing heavy chainmail.

The Weight of the Warden trait triggered instantly. Five hundred percent mass increase. The eighty-pound weapon became a four-hundred-pound meteor of kinetic destruction.

The blunt axe head smashed into the warrior’s shoulder.

There was no clean cut. There was no clashing of swords. The sound was a horrific, wet crunch of metal and bone collapsing at the same time. The warrior’s chainmail behaved like wet tissue paper. He was instantly crushed flat against the rocky ground.

The shockwave from the downward strike sent a ripple through the dirt, knocking four other players off their feet.

Declan didn’t pause. The mass normalized as he lifted the weapon again. He took one step to the side and brought it down on a mage trying to cast a spell.

CRUNCH.

Another player was instantly deleted into blue pixels.

"Stop him!" Gideon screamed from the front, turning around in a panic. "Swarm him! Use swords!"

Ten warriors broke from the front line and rushed Declan. They swung their swords and axes wildly, hacking at his back and sides.

Clang! Thud!

The weapons bounced off the pitch-black leather of the Predator’s Coat. Declan’s fifty defense was an absolute wall. He literally ignored them. He just kept walking slowly through the backline, raising the halberd and bringing it down like a machine pressing metal.

CRUNCH.

An archer was flattened into paste.

CRUNCH.

Two warriors trying to block with their shields had their arms shattered and their health bars instantly zeroed out.

It wasn’t a fight. It was a demolition.

Declan was an untouchable juggernaut walking through a crowd of helpless children. Every time the heavy dark steel came down, the ground shook, and someone died. The Vanguard members realized their weapons were doing nothing. Panic set in.

"He’s taking zero damage!" someone screamed.

"Run! Break formation!"

The guild completely shattered. Players dropped their heavy shields and tried to sprint back down the canyon.

Declan watched them run. He didn’t chase them on foot.

"Void Blink."

He teleported fifteen meters ahead, appearing directly in front of three fleeing warriors. Before they could stop, he swung the heavy halberd down in a wide diagonal arc.

The kinetic force crushed all three of them into the dirt simultaneously.

"No, no, no," Gideon muttered, backing away slowly. He watched his fifty-man army get systematically dismantled by a single guy in a black coat.

Declan kept blinking. He kept swinging. He didn’t show any mercy, and he didn’t slow down. He just methodically crushed every single player wearing a Black Vanguard tag until the canyon was quiet again.