“Ya know, this is too easy,” Rave said, while she picked through the rubble. “Like, we’re doing the right thing and saving those people faster is obviously better, but I thought we’d have some proper pushback. Like, Shounen anime style, new arc villain pushback.”

“We’re a formation of over a dozen of the world’s strongest people,” John drily reminded her of the facts. “It’d be absurd if we didn’t have a very easy time initially. Statistically, any world with a population under several million shouldn’t be able to mount a defence at all.” With one hand he lifted a smashed tabletop out of the rocks. The drawer still attached to it contained writing utensils, but nothing of value. “What did Saitama say? ‘If you want to have fun, you probably shouldn’t get any stronger’.”

“Oy, no quoting the one punch man at me!”

“Why?”

“’Cause you’re going to make me depressed by reminding me that I’ll eventually run out of dangerous stuff to smash my fist into.”

“Well, you can always fight Nathalia,” the Gamer suggested.

“We both know that woman wouldn’t hurt me, she loves my ass too much.”

“And who would blame her? It’s an international treasure.”

“Don’t ya distract from me having an existential crisis.”

“Maybe we should see a therapist about that.” John hummed. ”You know, about you having a thrill seeking issue.”

“It’s only an issue if I run out.”

“Spoken like a true alcoholic.” John shook his head and laughed. Even while the smile was on his lips, his eyes scanned the horizon for any changes in the distance.

“Why do you even bother?” Metra asked, effortlessly lifting a former wall over her head. The sound of it smashing apart on top of their dedicated ‘trash heap’ overpowered any other sound for a couple of moments. Afterwards, she added, “You got Momo, Salamander, and yourself up there, what can your fucking eyes see at ground level what they can’t?”

“You are correct, but my paranoid brain won’t accept that,” he responded.

It had been about three hours now since they took out the Ironborn in the fortress. Since then, they had saved who they could from the room below and given who was practically or de-facto braindead, even after all healing Undine could muster was applied, a quick death. John was getting somewhat numb to the euthanizing, which he despised.

“Maybe I should call Lorelei to join us,” he thought out loud. “Her future sight could make it more definitive who we can save and who is completely gone.”

“Sounds kinda risky,” Rave said.

“It is… Also, I can’t invite people without leaving, so getting that underway would be a pain.” John groaned and rubbed his forehead. “I can’t even say that I just want her here for the help, I just want her to be around. I want to spend more time with her.” Then he let out a prolonged sigh. “Then again, that would be exceedingly ris-“

“…Why couldn’t you have done this when I was getting over a hundred people in here?” John asked the sky. A window with the words, ‘Because you didn’t wish for it strong enough,’ opened up before him. “Fair enough,” the Gamer waved off. He now had the means to call Lorelei in, but even if he did come to the conclusion that he did want to do it, now was not the time.

They had a Quest to concentrate on.

This one was more important than the previous ones. The optional rewards were too potent to pass up on. When it came to the fight itself, John wasn’t worried whatsoever. Letting her go was without importance. Their presence was firmly established and there were many ways to obscure vital information. As for the 1vs1 condition, John had the perfect contestant. Beatrice had made her way over from Chelmea an hour earlier.

John would gladly take the free Class Level.

‘A group is approaching from the southeast, about twenty,’ Momo said.

‘Ironborn?’ John asked.

‘No idea, I’d have to get closer,’ the fairy maid responded flippantly. ‘Or have Salamander throw a flare t-‘

‘Did somebody say, “Salamander, throw a fireball?!”’ the apocalypse elemental violently tore into the conversation. Before anyone could chide her for it, she had already conjured a sphere of flames in the sky. She had enough presence of mind to aim the attack in a mostly horizontal line. The dark of night was illuminated and the conditions of the Quest preserved.

‘Yup, definitely Ironborn,’ Momo drily added.

‘Well, let’s go greet them,’ John decided. “Come along, everyone, we have a monarch to humiliate.”

They relocated to the south-eastern plain beyond the fortress’ wall. John planned to make this his base of operation for the time being, so getting it caught up in the conflict would have been annoying to deal with. There was enough damage to the structure as it (partly no longer) stood.

They only had to wait for about a minute until the delegation of Ironborn made it all the way to their location. Hand raised in greeting, the Gamer stood at the forefront of his group. The Ironborn didn’t stop until the woman at the front of the formation was right up in John’s face.

She had been an elf previous to her transformation, it seemed. The pointy ears and graceful beauty were perfectly mimicked by her metal form. While the majority of her skin was a normal human pale in colour and texture, her hands and her legs up to the thighs were covered in a silvery white layer of pure Mithril. A wide, mad grin revealed her teeth to be made from the same, in all of their dangerous sharpness. Wide open, the black of her eyes dominated the sickly green of her irises. Her midnight coloured hair was wild.

‘An empath it is then, alright, I win,’ John thought and smirked back at the Ironborn Queen. There was only a finger-width between them. Hissing, Reetha pushed a light green, glowing mist past her clenched teeth. John felt his mental guard drop and his cock twitch upon inhaling it. Reetha leaned forwards, to bite him or claim his lips. “You’re the first Ironborn I meet that has a Libido, Reetha,” the Gamer remarked coldly, wresting control over his thoughts back from her.

Mind altering status effects were easy to control at his level of Wisdom. Behind him, Gnome signalled several of the less calmly minded women of his harem, Eliana especially, to take several steps back. Reetha herself wasn’t dangerous to John, but an out-of-control goddess of genocide definitely was.

The Queen ignored his words, until he put a hand against her chest and prevented her from advancing further. The naked, decently sized breasts under his palm were soft. His interest in them was non-existent, beyond what she tried to make him feel. John was actually struggling to decide what he hated more about her: that she was a ruler in this dystopia or that she tried to mind control him. Subjectively, the latter won out. John hated anyone trying to control him.

“What an odd man you are,” Reetha cackled and finally backed off after snapping her Mithril teeth at him. “And what an unwelcome sight. Who are you? What are you doing in the Iron Domain?”

“John Newman. Dismantling it,” the Gamer responded and put his hands in his pockets. “I don’t feel like answering any further questions and I have none for you. Let’s make this short: I suggest a duel. You against her.” John pointed at Beatrice. “If you win, you can ask us whatever you want and we’ll answer honestly. If she wins, you’ll retreat and bring your Emperor a message for me.”

Reetha’s eyes darted over to Beatrice, who stared back dispassionately. “Straight to the point. I like it,” she responded in swift words and retreated even further back. “Throw your fleshling at me.”

“Statement: you’re an idiot,” Beatrice remarked and stepped forwards.

“We’ll see about that.” Reetha giggled, crossing her arms. Again, she pushed the green mist past her teeth, while the passive maid walked forwards. Nothing happened. Then, suddenly, the Iron Puppeteer stumbled where she stood, hit by a wave of nausea. That was Beatrice’s signal to rush forwards.

The tip of Perfect missed Reetha narrowly, as the Empath dove down. Desperate as the dodge was, it left her wide open for the flying knee that followed. Perhaps she had gambled on her body being sturdy enough to withstand the impact of flesh and bone against metal. That would have been an ill-informed decision in any Abyssal fight, but with Beatrice’s own forged body, it was doubly wrong.

Nailing her straight in the face, Beatrice made the elven Ironborn stumble one step backwards. More would have followed, had the passive maid not immediately followed up with a Needle Assault. The numerous shockwaves that accompanied the multi-strike attack blew tiny holes into Reetha’s slender body.

They closed swiftly, but not as swiftly as Beatrice was on the follow-up. The enchantments of Perfect and her resource generation were in full swing. Twist Position immediately took her out of the path of the hurled counterattack. A wave of green, glowing mist exploded out of the various holes all over Reetha’s body, only to have her clench her own head again.

Beatrice kicked Reetha down to the ground. “What the fuck are you?!” the Queen of the West asked, rolling onto her back.

“Response: the antidote for idiocy,” Beatrice answered and raised her spear again.

Sometimes, in game mechanics, there were interactions or designs that made it virtually impossible for one side to win. Classical examples of these were represented in most PvP games. Characters that specialized in melting tanks through Max HP damage or diving the enemy backline to assassinate the healer were widespread. In PvE games, particularly the round-based variety, one could encounter even more decisive designs, like full immunity from fire damage.

After Aclysia had been taken over for a brief period during the conquest of Little Maryland, John had looked into anti-mind control effects for his Artificial Spirits. Number one had been to raise their Mental Stats, number two had been an Attribute called Mental Backlash. The Attribute made it so that anytime someone failed at attempting to Possess or otherwise control an Artificial Spirit, they took damage dependent on the Intellect and Wisdom of the Artificial Spirit. Those two helped to ease his mind when it came to Aclysia’s protection against such effects. Beatrice had an additional layer of defence. A Perk called Enigma Code, granting her complete immunity to mind control effects.

The victor had been decided from the start, because any attempt by Reetha to use her Innate Ability would only harm herself. Coupling this with Beatrice being one of the best duellists in the group, the recipe for utter humiliation was complete.

‘Man, I’m so glad I’m not the only intelligent person falling for the old arrogance trap,’ the Gamer thought, while watching Reetha getting knocked around.

Any defence the Queen mounted was immediately outmanoeuvred and any attack she launched futile. She learned quickly enough that her empath abilities did nothing. That she stuck to physical attacks for a while spoke to her rage. ‘Shame that she doesn’t get any benefit out of it,’ Metra commented with glee.

“Alright, stop,” John ordered Beatrice, who had just driven her spear through Reetha’s throat. The hateful gaze of the Queen moved to him. Her Relationship Score had hit rock bottom now. John couldn’t muster any care for that. He only considered whether he should kill her after all. It overcame him that he really should stick to the reward. “Obviously this is our victory. Tell your Emperor that I want to meet him here. Stay any longer and we’ll annihilate all of you.”

With that, the entirety of the group turned away and entered the fortress again. “That was laughably easy,” Rave complained.

“That’s what happens when I can prepare,” John said. “Do you want to rehash the conversation we had earlier?”

“Nah… so what’s next?”

“Next is meeting that Emperor,” the Gamer responded. “Maybe we can end things right then and there. It would certainly accelerate this entire affair.”

“Ya mean we’re going to kick him to the curb?”

“I was thinking grave rather than curb,” John responded. “We’ll see about it. Either way, time to get that free Class Level.”

John wanted to have New Metracanas for the completionist factor, but compared to the other two it couldn’t be a priority. The choice was effectively between giving Metra additional Stats or Perks. Both were obviously powerful. The Perks came with the drawback of cost, a rather hefty one. Metra counting as an Artificial Spirit for cost calculation increased the current cost from 20% of his mana regeneration to 40% - each new AS doubled the maintenance. He could afford that, but it would once again cripple his mana regeneration.

‘What else is new,’ John thought and sighed. Thing was that he wanted to take the Perk-enabling option sooner rather than later. The Stats were applied retroactively, so he could get that one at a later date without drawback. The same was not true for the Perk selection. Perks were also generally more important for the power level of someone than raw Stats. Improving Metra’s skillset could have exceedingly important effects.

So, as much as it hurt his mana regeneration, John picked the first option.