Silver-blue eyes looked out through the cargo bay window at the Unds base that was more than 10,000 feet below. Its calm gaze exuded 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 any trooper after he served them.
It was not a friendly mock but the type that knocked down one's esteem. 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.
"Soldiers of freedom, stand ready. We will dispatch and attack after 30 seconds," a feminine voice announced through the PA system.
The troopers hurried in a coordinated manner to their lockers and armed themselves for combat. Soon, the soldiers lined up at the large dive door at the belly of the aircraft.
Rider hurried towards the line. He lowered his gaze to his rifle to assess it. 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 machine wasn't making any noises that indicated it was flying.
Rider's gaze settled on a figure that was staring out of the window. It was the silver-blue-eyed man. Rider recognised the figure as soon as the figure turned their attention to him.
"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 S-rank, 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.
"Rider, my good soldier," Merlin_13 said with a deep voice.
"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. I drew power from that glitch to create this effect we are in. What I did here was that I merely stopped the flow of time throughout 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. 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 tail door of the cabin bay quickly but gently swung open. 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 grabbed onto something. He pulled back and pulled out 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 troops' lieutenant 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 stabbed his weapon into the ground as he landed, setting off an explosive eruption that usurped anything on the ground within a 1 km radius.