Capítulo 16: The Difficulty of Fighting for a Territory
<Initiating Challenge>
Just then, a mound appeared on the Luna's lawn, in front of them, on top of it, was a sapling.
<Bonus Objective: Defend this <Life Tree Sapling> for a resource boon>
Despite the initial surprise, Luna was quick to think. The appearance of this bonus objective might prove crucial to their survival. If there was one thing that he first learned about this new world, was that it rewarded those who were the fast ones to adapt.
It may not have been mentioned, but there was a very high chance that this was a one-time thing. If they lost this sapling, they might not get another opportunity, at least not with another similar sized territory.
This new world was quite cruel. It was a good thing that Luna wanted his people to only use <System> recognized equipment. Because what was never mentioned, was that during this "challenge" when claiming a territory, it would open rifts, which was where the zombies for this invasion would basically come from.
The reason for this, was that the limiters that existed intrinsically in the surroundings, would gather in the area of the <Territory> being fought for. This was how a <Territory> would be secured. The cause of the invasion, was that with the limiters in the surrounding focused on sealing the possibility of rifts opening, would not be present where they usually would be.
Until the <Territory> has been secured, those energies would not go back to their usual places. This was why the invasion would be based on the size of the <Territory> being claimed by a <Nation>.
Simply put: The larger the <Territory> the larger the energies required to seal the area. There was still the option of fighting the <Titan> in the center of the city.
This was pretty much an impossible feat as of right now. Should a <Nation> trigger that option, that would activate any unclaimed <Territory> within the city. Essentially, unless you either have enough people, at a high enough level, to defend while having people strong enough to fight the <Titan> at the same time, you might as well be asking to die.
The easiest option was to claim them one by one, and make the <Titan> disappear, but this would mean the loss of potential EXP and loot. At least, this was what Luna calculated in his head, for now. Right now he had more things to worry about.
After instructing everybody to quickly move the closest concrete barricades to encircle the mound, screams coming from zombies started filling everyone's ears. The level 10 players were inside the barricade, while those meant to be in the inner circle, were on the mound encircling the sapling, along with Apple.
With the rest of the original team on the outer perimeter to trim the numbers down a bit, the ones behind the barricade weren't as stressed out.
The first wave consisted of regular zombies, they were easily dealt with. The second wave, was more than twice the amount of zombies, still relatively easy to deal with.
The third wave however, consisted of even more regular zombies, and evolved zombies. Each person, besides Luna and Sura, were reinforced by another level 10 person.
Everytime they leveled, Luna told them to add points to VIT, that was also one of the main reasons why, when he hit level 20, he put all 20 stat points into VIT, was because he expected this siege to last for quite a while. The other reason being, that his passives, like <Regeneration>, and the <Blessings> of the two Gods, scaled off of his body's current overall capability and life force.
With merely these regular zombies and evolved zombies, Luna and Sura were harvesting them like wheat. Wheat, might actually be a compliment to these things at this point. Everybody saw this, and boosted their morale.
"Sir Luna is strong.. too strong!" Said one kid who was in the middle.
"That's LORD Luna, it's best you pay him the respect he deserves. We wouldn't even be alive, much less reach level 10 without his <Sovereign Nation> helping us out." The kid beside him quickly rebuked him, as if calling Luna a "Sir", and not "Lord" was the same as insulting his own ancestors.
Apple couldn't help but be amused at these kids, as she added "Mn, I was saved by Lord Luna as well. Me and my brother. When everything was like Hell on Earth, he not only saved our lives, he also gave us purpose, beyond just surviving."
"Exactly! I apologize for my mistake! He works hard, and we're here receiving EXP for free. I definitely have to repay his kindness! I'll increase my strength, so one day I could be of use to Lord Luna." The kid who initially called Luna "sir" quickly declared.
"What are your names?" Apple smiled as she asked.
The second kid replied "Ah! I'm sorry for not introducing myself earlier, Lady Apple, my name is Crispin. That rude one is Basilio, we're both brothers! Thankfully, we were awake when the zombies came, we were making Sampaguita necklaces to sell later in the day."
Apple couldn't help but giggle, finding these two young boys adorable "You can call me Apple. I look forward to seeing you two fulfill your full potential." despite talking this whole time, she never took her eyes off the battlefield for a second.
"Mn! We want to grow strong and look for our mother as soon as we can!"
Apple gave them a smile then suddenly, "Chain Lightning!" seeing that one area was starting to struggle a bit, she quickly relieved the pressure by killing some regular zombies instantly. With how high Apple's INT stat was, she could actually keep up the skill for quite some time due to her naturally high Mana regeneration, only that nobody knew how long this siege was going to last.
Apple's strength garnered adoring gazes from the kids beside her. Seeing that electricity arc towards zombies, killing regular zombies in the initial tick of damage, killing evolved zombies in two ticks of damage, almost being able to kill them in one, even Luna was surprised.
In the future, he definitely needed to build at least a Mage Battalion.
So whenever she would see zombies starting to climb across the the outer barricades, she would help out. At this point, they were already at the 10th wave, the Agility focused people like Maria, Clara, and Hana, were running low on their stamina. It was a good thing that they gained a couple levels within this time, and added the stats to VIT.
The people in the back line, finally had to go forward, they were scared at first, but with Apple supporting them from behind, they quickly found that they had nothing to worry about, as long as they didn't slack off.
After several hours of defense, the final wave finally came. There were no regular zombies or evolved zombies. There were 3 of the new variant, surprisingly they came from outside, and almost effortlessly destroyed the walls blocking their way.
"Apple! Keep hitting them with your Chain Lightning! Maria, Clara, Hana, Boni! Handle the one on the far left! If you can't beat it, have Boni delay it for as long as possible and kite it around. Sura, you take the one on the far right." Luna quickly barked out orders as he charged towards the one in the middle.
He was completely aware, that the reason why he could handle these new variants, was not just because of his higher level, but it was mostly thanks to Mayari and Apolaki's blessing. The reason why he sounded so urgent, was because it would still take him and Sura a few seconds to kill each one, he didn't want the 3rd one to charge towards the sapling and harming the others while trying to get to it.
Sure enough, while they were able to harm it, they couldn't quite cut it down as easily as the Luna-Sura duo. They could however, slow it down pretty well with Boni's distraction and Apple's <Chain Lightning> staggering the variant.
After the other two were dispatched, Luna, who was the closest, quickly took it down, giving everyone vast amounts of EXP.
As soon as the last one dissipated.
--------------------------
CONGRATULATIONS! <Sovereign Nation> has officially conquered the <Luna's Manor> becoming the very first <Nation> to officially conquer a territory! The rest of the world needs to catch up!
<Leader Bonus>
100,000 VIS!
First <Territory> Owner Bonus:
Life Tree - sustenance for your <Nation>
First <Territory> Owner Bonus - 1,000,000 VIS!
Adamantium Walls to surround your territory
Basic Automated Turrets x 8
Basic Dome-shaped Force Field
--------------------------
Everybody started cheering loudly, these bonuses essentially meant that their territory would be impenetrable!
While everyone was cheering, the only people who were frowning were Luna, and Sura who sensed his worry.
"The rest of the world needs to catch up." Luna finally said.
At first, some people thought Luna was talking smack to the rest of the world, but the original group noticed that there was not a happy expression on his face, and quickly knew something was up.
"Luna-dono... why did you quote that part specifically?" Hana already knew what it meant, but she was aware the rest weren't.
Apple suddenly spoke up out of nowhere "The rest of the world needs to--- Why would the <System> need to say that if... It can't be, right? But no, it makes sense." she suddenly lost all color on her face.
"Indeed. This new world started because we were to be pushed to evolve. What would push the rest of the world to start acting like the rest of us have? To grind out levels at the speed that we have."
Benefits. The world is run by benefits. What would be a greater motivation for the world than to tell them "Hey, these guys are ahead of everybody else, and because of that, they're gaining major advantages."
It's not that it was only Luna's team that rushed to gain a territory, as a matter of fact, way more people around the world tried before them. But if this night was proof of anything else, it was the fact that trying to claim a territory was no joke.
Unbeknownst to everybody, that due to the whole concept of the "limiters" a lot of people actually thought they were clever, and used guns, and all sorts of non <System> armaments. Without the capability of absorbing the EXP, also known as the Life Force of their kills, it would just return to where it came from, and reform again.
With that in mind, with the limiters not being in place, the reformed zombies would just step out of the void and attack again, until eventually they would run out of ammo, and succumb to the invasion.
If it weren't for Luna's mindset making every kill count as EXP, perhaps they would have fallen into that trap as well.
"But Lord Luna, since this sapling is said to give us resources, I'm guessing it's gonna be fruit, right? And look, as soon as we won the territory, the mound inverted, the sapling is growing at a visible rate and while it hasn't bore any fruit yet, the hollow part in the middle started pouring out water. It even stops as soon as it fills it to the brim, and adds more when you drink from it. We basically have no worries in here, right?" Basilio pointed out.
"Indeed. But that doesn't mean we can slack off. If we just stay in here, sure we'll be able to live peacefully for some time. But what happens when they find a way to destroy the force field? We gained basic turrets, but what if they build even better versions? What if they surround us and keep us in here, unable to level, until they eventually get strong enough to just jump in here and massacre us?" Luna answered back. He could have chosen to ignore it, but he knew that he cannot let anyone in this group slack off for even a second.
This new world was made to push people to evolve. Those who slack off are only waiting for death. Until he had enough strength to protect everyone from zombies or humans, he would not relent.
While he didn't have to worry too much about the rest of the world, there were still those who were close enough to threaten his territory.
REFLEXIONES DE LOS CREADORES 
TheLittleFatty
TheLittleFatty In case you wanted a visual on the concrete barricades I'm referring to: https://www.trafficsafetywarehouse.com/images/concrete-jersey-barrier.jpg
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