Second World

The person who entered the mobile fortress while it was battling the eldritch beholder was Speedrun, the player who possessed the Master Thief special class. When he was killed by Hatori, he was wearing an amulet of rebirth. Speedrun always wore this amulet all the time. He wasn't a combatant. He didn't care about the ability boost provided by a piece of pendant equipment. Keeping his level and belonging was more important to him.

Speedrun dropped one level to level 75 after he died, but Master provided him with an exp-grinding team to power-level him. Master even helped by being in that team and letting Speedrun enter a special legacy dungeon in their guild headquarters which provided tons of exp points. Normally, only he and a couple of his high officers were allowed to use this legacy dungeon.

Master's purpose in doing so was to catapult Speedrun to level 80. When a Master Thief reached level 80, they received a new skill. Master required Speedrun to use this new skill for his next assignment, which was to infiltrate the mobile fortress.

Master Thief's level 80 skill was Infiltrate Barrier. This skill allowed the user to bypass any barrier, even those protected by a rune diagram.

Speedrun successfully reached level 80 just before the Allied forces arrived. He had been hiding outside the capital waiting for the right opportunity to infiltrate the mobile fortress.

He waited until the battle turned heated and most of the soldiers charged at the wall, then he made his approach.

Speedrun was given several invisibility magic scrolls by Master. He used the first scroll to roam among the Allied forces. While invisible, he used Master Disguise to copy the appearance of an enemy soldier. He then made his way to the mobile fortress.

It took him some time to sneak over the battlefield because of the chaos amid the battle. The mobile fortress always moved around. It was not easy to get close. When the mobile fortress tussled with the eldritch beholder, it moved less. He carefully made his way there then.

When he was close, he used the second invisibility scroll. He then used Grappling Hook to jump onto the mobile fortress. He scaled the wall until he reached the battlement. Normally, one couldn't enter the battlement because of the barrier protecting the mobile fortress. This barrier stopped even flyers. Speedrun used his Infiltrate Barrier and stepped into the battlement.

Still under invisibility, he used Master Disguise to copy one player who was inside the mobile fortress. This was because his invisibility would be out of duration soon. With the disguise, he continued to roam inside the mobile fortress after his invisibility ended.

Master wasn't familiar with the monarch system. Because of that, he was also not familiar with the mobile fortress. He didn't know the layout of the fortress but he suspected there should be a power crystal similar to a palace or guild headquarters. Speedrun's mission was to find this power crystal and destroy it so the mobile fortress was immobilized.

Speedrun entered the keep inside the mobile fortress. The keep was the most likely place for the power crystal to be. He roamed inside the keep for some time while the battle outside continued to rage. Most of the people in this fortress were outside the keep operating the siege weapons or fighting in the battlement, so he encountered no one inside the keep.

From his roaming, he found three doors with rune diagram seals. If there was a power crystal, it should be behind one of these three doors. His Infiltrate Barrier had a two-hour cooldown. He had a cover disguise but it was still safer for him to hide while waiting for his skill's cooldown to end. He went and hid in a corner. He had a cloak that had the shadow meld ability, similar to Jack's previous Cloak of Shadow. He became invisible after staying still for a while.

While waiting, his mind wondered about his current situation. He thought this was all very troublesome. Normally, he felt a thrill when he sneaked into a heavily guarded place to steal a valuable object, but he felt no such thrill this time. He was sure then that he despised war.

He might be indebted to Master for his special class and for helping him reach his current level, but he thought that with this mission, he should have repaid Master enough. After this mission, he planned to say goodbye and go his own way.

Of course, he didn't plan to say his goodbye directly. Master gave him the impression of someone who didn't take kindly to people who quit his service. He would just disappear and leave a letter explaining his farewell, like what was done between lovers in those outdated romance movies.

After the cooldown of his Infiltrate Barrier ended, he came out of hiding and approached the first door. All three doors were on different floors. If no power crystal was behind this door, he would have to wait another two hours before he could try another door. He didn't care if the Liguritudum force had to wait longer, but he would hate it if his plan to depart was delayed because he entered the wrong door.

He prayed to all the Gods in existence, asking for luck so he didn't pick the wrong door. He then used the Infiltrate Barrier. A portal opened before the sealed door. He stepped into that portal and came out the other side of the door.

When he stepped out, he found that he was face-to-face with five people. These five people were sitting on five different chairs and were operating weird-looking control panels. The five showed shocked expressions which he thought would be pretty much the same as his expression right now.

"F*ck!" He cursed. Not only was there no power crystal behind this door but there were players instead.

Both sides were in shock, but Speedrun recovered first. A couple of metallic balls appeared in his hand and he threw them forward. The two metal balls were World Maker's war tool, the Paralyzing Bombs.

The two bombs exploded, dealing damage to the five players who sat near each other. Speedrun then rushed forward while the five were paralyzed.

The five were low-level players. Their levels ranged around level 40 to 55. Speedrun didn't know why these low-level players were here, but he didn't have the time to think about it. Under the paralyzed condition, the five couldn't last long against Speedrun who was level 80.

After dispatching the five, Speedrun uttered another curse. He was sure that his presence inside this mobile fortress was now known to the enemy.