The upgraded Dawn Station wasn't just a derelict diner anymore. As a Level 2 Territory, the defensive shimmer had doubled in density, and the wooden watchtower—while rickety enough to sway in a light breeze—finally offered a legitimate vantage point. Perched at the top was a manual ballista. Fifty-meter range, solid damage, but a total pain to aim and reload solo.
Outside, the resource node at the edge of the lot was spitting out two units of Basic Materials per hour. We'd spent the last forty minutes using that scrap, along with every table and chair left from the night before, to stack a waist-high line of "sandbags" (mostly burlap sacks stuffed with literal garbage) in front of the main entrance.
Our time ran out.
Thorn's crew didn't bother with stealth. They marched straight across the cracked asphalt of the parking lot like lords inspecting their estate. Thorn led the way, twirling his blue-tinted blade with practiced ease, the morning light making the scar on his face look like a jagged canyon. Behind him, the archer had a notch ready, the healer held her staff aloft, and the two bruisers shouldered a heavy iron pipe and a fire axe.
They stopped thirty meters out.
"Alex Chen!" Thorn bellowed. "Let's have a chat!"
I stood on the watchtower, leaning my tire iron against my shoulder. The tower creaked ominously under my weight.
"Chat about what? How to split up the rest of your crystals?" I shouted back. My voice was steady, but my palms were slick with sweat.
Thorn grinned, flashing a row of tombstone-white teeth. "Kid's got balls. Steal a crystal and actually come back to defend the nest? I can respect that."
He raised a hand, and a wall of red text slammed into my vision.
[Hostile Party 'Thorn' has initiated a Territory Challenge!]
Type: Pillage/Occupation
Rules:
Objective: Defeat all defenders OR destroy the Territory Core.
Time Limit: 30 Minutes (Attacker fails if time expires).
Death Penalty: Attacker can loot 50% of items + 1 random gear piece.
Soul Point Penalty: 10 points for the first kill (increases per kill).
"Thirty minutes," Thorn called out. "Hand over the crystal and the keys to the kingdom, or we paint this pavement with your brains. Choice is yours."
I looked down. Marcus was gripped his axe behind the trash-bag barricade. Tyler was prone at the counter-turned-sniper-nest. Mia held the flank. Li Wei and the others stood by the back door with frying pans and broken bottles.
Everyone was terrified. I could see the tremor in their hands.
I took a deep breath, shoved the panic into a dark corner of my mind, and screamed back: "I choose Option C: Eat shit!"
Thorn's blade stopped spinning. "Kill them."
The archer fired first. The arrow whistled toward the tower, and I ducked purely on instinct. The shaft slammed into the wood with a violent thud, making the whole structure groan.
"Fuck!" I scrambled to keep my balance as wind from the arrow's passage whipped my ear.
Below, the two bruisers charged. Marcus let out a roar as he met them at the barricade, axe clashing against iron pipe in a shower of sparks.
Clang!
Marcus was shoved back a step, his HP bar dipping. [HP: 178 / 210].
The healer raised her staff, chanting under her breath. A green pulse washed over Thorn's team.
[Buff Applied: Thistle Aura – All Attack +15%, HP Regen +5/sec]
Thorn moved like a blur, his blue blade trailing light as he lunged at the defensive shimmer. The barrier hummed and sparked, a visible crack spiderwebbing from the point of impact.
[Territory Durability: 87% → 79%]
"Tyler! Take the shot!" I yelled.
Tyler's hands shook as he pulled the trigger on the ballista. Twang! The bolt went wide, grazing Thorn's shoulder and barely drawing a line of red. [Thorn HP: 248 / 260].
"Useless!" Thorn snarled, flicking his wrist. A vine of energy erupted from the ground, lashing through a gap in the shimmer and wrapping around Tyler's leg.
[Status: Entangled – Movement -80% for 8s]
[Tyler HP: 92 / 120]
Mia rushed over to hack at the vine with her fire poker, but Thorn was already back at the barrier, his blade raining blows.
[Territory Durability: 79% → 62%]
I leaped from the tower, my knees buckling as I hit the ground. "Everyone to the Core! Don't let them inside!"
Thorn laughed, a harsh, jagged sound. "The Core's behind the bar, isn't it? Can't hide the scent, little dev."
He leaped, his blade glowing with an intense sapphire light as he delivered a heavy strike.
CRACK.
The sound of the shimmer shattering was like a thousand windows breaking at once.
[Territory Durability: 62% → 31%]
The archer seized the moment, sending an arrow straight through a gap in our sandbags. It caught Marcus in the shoulder. He grunted, his axe clattering to the floor.
[Marcus HP: 112 / 210]
"Marcus!" Mia screamed.
I lunged forward, swinging my tire iron at Thorn's head. He dodged with casual grace and countered with a rising slash. I barely caught it on the iron, but the force was like being hit by a car. I was sent flying, crashing hard against the mahogany bar.
[HP: 76 / 148]
[Internal Injury: Stamina -20, Slowed for 5s]
My vision swam. My ears were ringing with static. Thorn stepped over the threshold, his blade pointed at my throat.
"You've got grit, kid. But this is the end of the line."
Suddenly, Tyler scrambled up from the floor. Ignoring the vines still biting into his calf, he leveled his hand-crossbow at Thorn's back.
"Go to hell!"
Thwip!
The bolt buried itself deep in Thorn's lower back.
[Critical Hit! Weak Point Strike!]
[Thorn HP: 148 / 260]
Thorn howled in pain, spinning around and booting Tyler into the wall. Tyler crumpled, his HP bar flashing a desperate red. [Tyler HP: 12 / 120].
But that split-second was all I needed.
[Analyst's Eye] strobed in my vision like a faulty neon sign. Thorn's skills were on a 3-second cooldown; his entanglement was spent. The shimmer was down, but the Core itself had a 5-second emergency invulnerability window.
I gritted my teeth, grabbed a leftover bottle of whiskey from the shelf behind me, and shattered it at Thorn's feet.
Mia didn't need the prompt. She flicked her lighter and tossed it.
WHOOSH.
A pillar of blue-orange flame engulfed Thorn's lower half.
[Status: Burning – -22 HP/sec]
[Movement -40%]
Thorn roared, thrashing as the fire caught onto his tactical vest. I scrambled to the Core, pulling the blue crystal from my pocket and slamming it into the socket.
[Emergency Overload Initiated!]
[Effect: 5s Invulnerability + Repulsion Pulse (10m Range)]
The room exploded in blue light. Thorn had just managed to smother the flames and lunged for the Core.
5... 4... 3...
He slashed down.
CLANG. The blade bounced off the pulse. Invulnerable.
2... 1...
Repulsion Pulse Triggered!
A kinetic shockwave blasted outward from the Core. Thorn took the brunt of it, sent flying out the front door and slamming into a rusted sedan in the lot.
[Thorn HP: 148 → 41]
[Status: Crippled – All stats -50% for 30s]
His lackeys were caught in the blast, too. Their HP bars tanked. The archer hit the ground and didn't get up. The healer retreated, screaming. The two bruisers tried to reach Thorn, but he pushed them away, his eyes bloodshot and wild.
"Fall back... FALL BACK! This place is bugged!"
They scrambled away, vanishing into the grey haze at the edge of the parking lot.
System pings started flooding my HUD.
[Territory Defense Successful!]
Rewards:
300 Territory XP
Loot: Tactical Vest Shard x1, Short-blade Fragment x1, Low-grade Energy Crystal x2
Permanent +10 Max HP for all participants.
Territory Reputation +150.
Achievement Unlocked: [First Contact: Deflected]
I slumped onto the floor, my lungs feeling like bellows. Mia helped Tyler over, and Marcus limped toward us, clutching his shoulder.
We stared at each other for a long moment.
"...Did we win?" Tyler asked, his voice cracking.
I let out a jagged laugh that hurt my chest. "We won. For now."
I looked out at the empty parking lot. Just before Thorn disappeared, he'd looked back. That look stayed with me—it wasn't fear. It was a promise.
[To be continued...]
Would you like me to continue with the next chapter?