Is this really a Game?!

Chapter 1007: Infiltrating a Side Base

The mercenary leaders listened intently, absorbing the information and understanding the gravity of the situation. They knew that the discovery of the enemy base was a crucial development, one that would lead them to the end of the entire mission.

"We need to act quickly," Ivan said, his voice firm. "If the enemy is unaware of our presence, we have a chance to strike decisively and catch them off guard."

Reign nodded in agreement. "We've already formulated a plan of attack."

"We'll take over a side base and use it as a staging ground for our assault on the enemy base."

"Don't worry, the enemy will have no idea of what is going on until it happens, meanwhile, the 9 of us, as well as the 4 of you, will get ready to attack their base from the outside the moment things start."

"If we could, we would bring more people in, but honestly, they won't be able to help much, and we need to make sure that the enemy doesn't notice us, that is why going with 13 people is actually much safer, they do have defenses and arrays put in place in the underground, and we can't allow them to notice anything is out of the ordinary before we start with our attack."

"That, I mean I understand the reasoning, but still, can we even –"

"It's fine." Ivan suddenly spoke, his expression calm and confident as he glanced at Reign and the others.

"Numbers aren't everything, especially in this situation, the more people we have, the higher the chances of the enemy becoming aware of our intentions."

"If they continue monitoring us, then they will find out what we are going to do the moment we mobilize our men, the plan they have come up with is definitely better."

The mercenary leaders exchanged glances, fully aware that Ivan, as well as Reign and his group, were correct, but even then, they were a bit tense. They knew that the upcoming battle would be their toughest yet, the enemy had a lot of strong fighters on their side, and none of them knew the exact number.

They had to be ready and expect anything to happen.

The group spent the next several hours finalizing their plan of attack, taking into account every possible scenario and contingency. They knew that the success of their mission depended on meticulous planning and flawless execution.

They had two major advantages over the enemy, the first one being the fact they knew where multiple side bases were, and how to get the cores to recognize them as members of the enemy faction, which would allow them to use the portals, and the fact that they knew where the main base of the enemy was and how to get to it.

As night fell, they set their plan into motion. Reign and the others moved, their hearts pounding with anticipation as they made their way toward a side base that was close to the Verdant Jungle.

Upon reaching the side base, they quickly assessed the situation and formulated a strategy for taking it over. The base was lightly guarded, its defenses no match for the combined might of Reign's group, but they were not here to fight.

They were here to sneak inside and find the core.

Reign, Shadow, Wolf, a Tier V combatant from Doncaster, and Elijah were the ones to go into the base under the cover of the barrier that Reign and Shadow had once again used.

Elijah was there because he would be the one to start the plan in motion after they managed to make the core recognize them.

There were not that many strong combatants present in the base, and even though it would be a bit dangerous, Elijah was tasked with disguising himself as one of the hooded men who were present in the main base and going to the portal, allowing it to activate before throwing the 'surprise present' inside.

There were multiple groups of players outside, lying in wait, ready to move and attack the side base the moment Elijah did his part.

The portal would be destroyed the moment Elijah did what he was tasked to do, which meant that the enemy would be unable to send any reinforcements, not to mention the fact that they wouldn't be able to do anything thanks to Reign and the others who were going to attack right after Elijah did his part.

Reign moved forward, with the others right behind him.

They managed to enter the side base easily, the security of the base being too lax to stop them for even a moment.

The hard part was finding the core, however.

Usually, it was in the center of the base, multiple meters below the ground, and digging would not be really feasible without being noticed by somebody.

That was why the Tier V combatant was with them.

His ability was [ Earth Manipulation ], he could move the soil and rocks around easily, and creating a hole and going deeper in to find the core would be much easier with him around.

He was quite important to them, and that was why he was there.

'Is there any way to try and sense the core while we are here?' Reign asked Aethion who simply shook his head.

'I'm afraid not, the core barely gives off any mana fluctuations, and trying to sense it is incredibly difficult.'

'All the mana present in the base is pretty much the same mana found in the core, it blends in with the surroundings, thus making it nearly impossible to sense it without being very close to it.'

'The closer you get, the easier sensing it will be, but you will first need to get to the center of the base, or at least as close to the center as you can, before digging down and then trying to sense it.'

Reign sighed at Aethion's words before shaking his head and moving forward. He knew that finding the core wouldn't be easy, if one could just sense it, then there would be no point in having the core be hidden below the ground.

The group made their forward, passing the small shacks and houses present in the base while being careful not to get close to any people who were still awake.

They chose to do this during the night because it would be much easier to pass through the base and not worry about the people who were present. They got closer and closer to the center of the base, which was easy to notice since there was a building present there.

It wasn't just any building, it was the place where the strongest people in the side base resided, as well as the place where the portal was present.

The portal was on the ground floor of the building, and there were no doors or gates present there. The entire ground floor was open, with only three walls and the pillars that supported the upper floors present there.

Digging there would definitely make it much easier to get to the core, but there were guards present, and creating a hole there would be noticeable, even if they hid it with the barrier.

There were a couple of arrays present there, arrays that were put in place to notify the guards if anyone had entered the building, arrays that would create a defensive barrier around the building, and more.

Elijah wouldn't have to worry about those arrays when he went to the portal later on.

They were all connected to the base, to the core, and since the core would identify him as a member of the enemy faction, the arrays would do that as well.

Reign and the others went to one of the walls of the building and started there.

The Tier V combatant, called Hargan, used his ability to slowly and carefully part the ground and create a hole for them to get inside.

There was no soil that would pile up around them as what he was doing was pushing it to the sides, making the walls of the hole tougher and more durable as the soil was getting pushed in, and compressed.

The hole had to be large enough to fit all five of them, and they had to make sure to close it right after entering it.

Hargan was doing the best he could, he knew that he had to be slow and careful, lest his mana fluctuations alerted any guards of the base.

He parted the ground, and soon, the shallow hole he had created was wide enough for them all to be in. He continued, however, slowly and surely making it deeper and deeper while they went down with it, the barrier still present around them and making it impossible for anybody to notice what was going on.

After about 3 minutes, their heads were barely visible above the hole, and it was almost time for Hargan to start covering the hole up, which he did a couple of seconds later, once they were fully below the ground.

He did it easily, and thankfully, the barrier had worked perfectly, making it impossible for anybody to notice what happened. Now, they just had to go deep and move to the side, closer to the center.