A pair of silver-blue eyes were calmly gazing out through one of the cargo bay windows at the Unds base that was more than 10,000 feet below. If one gazed into the pair of silver-blue eyes, they would feel the aura of the firm determination that flowed within its person.
Rider, the lowest-ranked trooper on the aircraft, carried packaged drinks on a tray around the cargo bay. Due to his low rank, he was subjected to being the waiter on board the aircraft. Troopers interested in the drink would call on Rider, and he would come over with the drinks. Unfortunately, he would be disgustingly mocked by the troopers after he served them.
The man with the silver-blue eyes shook his head in disappointment at the troopers' foul attitude towards Rider.
'They say they want to be free from this curse of a game, but they don't act like they deserve to be free,' the silver-blue-eyed man mused.
If it wasn't for the mission that they had at hand, the man who bore silver-blue eyes would not want to associate with the troopers.
A feminine voice announced through the public address system, "Soldiers, get ready. We will dispatch and attack after 30 seconds."
The troopers hurried in a coordinated manner to their lockers and armed themselves for combat. Soon, the soldiers lined up at the dive line behind the large dive door at the belly of the aircraft.
Rider was the last to hurry towards the line. On his way to the dive line, he lowered his gaze to his rifle to assess it. But when he lifted his gaze, he discovered that he was the only one in the cabin. He paused, confused. He looked round him and discovered the atmosphere in the aircraft was weird; the mechanical roar of the aircraft's engines that was suppressed by active noise cancellation equipment wasn't echoing into the cabin.
Rider's panicked and wandering gaze caught sight of a figure standing near a window on the right side of the cabin. He fiercely battled to calm his nerves that were urging him to flee, but to where? Dive off the aircraft and end up in the mercy of the enemy below? The figure at the window calmly turned so that Rider could see who it was. Rider recognised this person; it was the silver-blue-eyed man.
"Merlin_13!" Rider gasped in excitement.
Merlin_13, the silver-blue-eyed man, was one of the legendary freedom fighters of humanity. His power was rated calamity tier, making him stand amongst humanity's top weapons in the fight against the aliens. He also possessed an S-rank weapon, a sword he called Black_Riot.
Rider didn't shiver from excitement; rather, he was worried that he was alone in the cabin with Merlin_13. In his thoughts, he begged the universe that the reality he was seeing was not the afterlife.
Merlin_13's lips parted, and he said, "Rider, my good soldier. You are not like the others. You are one of the few people who are not overtly selfish. You are humble, you are kind and you are optimistic. That is why I brought you here."
"You brought me here?" Rider asked, confused the more.
"Yes, I did. You see, I found a glitch, and I coded the glitch into my sword." From thin air, Merlin_13 drew out his legendary longsword, Black_Riot. He held it upright and tilted it side to side.
"I drew power from that glitch to create this effect we are in. What I did was that I simply stopped the flow of time in the game.
"You and I are the only people not affected. But I will ultimately suffer ultimate punishment because I tried to break the game. This is the second reason I brought you here.
"People think that I am solely here to attack the enemy base, but that is not the complete truth. I also came here to break the dam that is holding back the river."
Rider furrowed his brows, expressing his confusion.
Merlin_13 explained, "The Unds have found a way to gradually crack into the heart of the game's algorithm."
Rider's mood plummeted into fright. That was the worst thing that could happen to humanity. If the Unds got their hands on the game's algorithm, they would rig the game against humanity or, worse, wipe out humanity with a string of code.
Merlin_13 continued, "They are still cracking; they haven't found a way to modify the code. All they have done is take out some coding from the game. The coding has manifested itself in the form of a flowing reserve in their base.
"They control the river from flowing out of their base with a dam. If the river flows, the game will actively try to patch the fault; hence, it will assimilate the river. I will break that dam and liberate the river's flow. If the river flows out, the game will recognise the river, and it will reabsorb it back into the game's coding package."
"What part do I play in this plan?" Rider asked.
Merlin_13 said, "I don't think I will make it out alive after I break the dam. I want you to throw my sword into the liberated river after it finds you. Don't worry; Black_Riot will let you wield it temporarily. Flee home as soon as I destroy the dam."
Rider's breathing became laboured. He couldn't understand why he was in this situation, and it felt overwhelming to him. Before he could focus his thoughts and ask the silver-blue-eyed man some questions, he discovered that everything had returned to normal. He was standing at the back of a swarm of troopers.
The dive door at the end of the cabin bay quickly but gently swung open. For an inexplicable reason, Merlin_13 stood in front of the swarm of troopers. He walked forward towards the end of the door ramp. As he walked, he grabbed the thin air to his left and held onto something. He pulled back the hand and took out from the void his legendary sword, Black_Riot.
He dived off the ramp and descended headfirst towards the enemy camp like a missile locked onto a target. The enemy's automated weapon system identified him as a threat and opened fire at him.
Merlin_13 slashed forward, horizontally, and sword lights manifested, which countered the attacks locked onto him. He passed the sword to his left hand and slashed forward horizontally from left to right. This action unleashed a massive attack on the enemy's base that spontaneously caused multiple buildings and equipment to explode.
On the aircraft, the captain in charge ordered the troopers to dive off the aircraft and join the assault on the enemy base. The troopers dived off the plane in timed batches.
Merlin_13 landed like a meteorite onto the ground. He thrust the blade of his weapon into the ground as he landed, setting off an explosive eruption that usurped anything on the ground within a 1 km radius.