Instead of going to what he was sure would be his death, he rushed to the portal at the back of the small world and took a train out of the earthly battlefield.
On his way to the train, he said to himself with bitterness, "Fortunately, i don’t need anybody’s permission to quit the mission and leave. But i didn’t think i would be leaving like this. Like a fugitive on the run."
When he thought of why he was leaving like a fugitive, he chuckled and said. "Nicely done, Loki. No wonder you agreed to go with me. You were ready to turn on me. I underestimated you."
Then he gritted his teeth and said, "You deserve this victory. But if I go down, I won’t go down alone."
Meanwhile, Loki received a notification from the sect saying, "Congratulations, you have been appointed as the captain of post 419 on Earthly Battlefield E6-137 by Commander Amelia. This is a grade 4 mission. Do you accept?"
Loki was rightfully surprised by this notification. He was so surprised that his eyes widened in shock.
But even as he was reeling from the shock, he knew to accept the mission. He did so immediately while wondering why he had gotten this opportunity.
As soon as he accepted the mission, he received another notification.
"You have gained access to the communication channel of captains. You have gained access to grade 4 merit points. You have gained access to..."
He received more notifications telling him about the benefits and privileges of being a captain, but he couldn’t pay attention to them because there were a lot of messages in the communication channel of the captains. One of them was also directed at him.
As soon as she saw the notification that he had accepted the mission, Amelia said to him in the communication channel, "Welcome to the group. Ask Ivory about your responsibilities as a captain and any questions you have. In the meantime, what you need to do is to hold that city for as long as possible."
"Update me on every change that happens over there. I will send further instructions when needed."
Loki said, "Understood. One question. Does that mean that we can’t continue to recruit the people in the city anymore?"
She replied immediately, "You can continue to recruit people. But you can’t kill them anymore. You should only kill if we are about to lose the city."
Loki nodded and said, "Alright. I think I have all that I need for now."
Amelia also nodded in satisfaction where she was and said, "Good."
That was the end of what she had to say to him. There were still a lot of messages on the communication channel, but Loki put them on hold for now in favor of more urgent things.
The main reason he had accepted the grade 4 mission was that he wanted to earn grade 4 merit points and get a Level 4 Dao Status like Greg.
In order to accomplish this, he will need to hold the city. But it will not be easy for him to do.
Now that he is a captain, he can still recruit people for the sect. But that will only earn him grade 3 merit points. He can’t earn grade 4 merit points that way anymore.
The only way to earn grade 4 merit points is to accomplish something strategic that will affect the entire battlefield. This includes killing rank 4 enemies, creating cities from scratch, taking over enemy cities, or destroying enemy cities.
Of these four methods of earning grade 4 merit points, destroying a city is the easiest to accomplish. This made him say, "No wonder Greg is always eager to destroy cities despite the danger of angering the Martial Body Sect. Now that I am a captain, it is not such a bad idea."
He was already willing to destroy the city to earn grade 3 merit points. Now that he could earn grade 4 merit points by destroying the city and killing everyone in it, he is more eager to destroy the city.
Unfortunately, he can’t destroy this city just yet because his superior officer wants him to hold the city. Until he has earned Level 4 Dao Status, he won’t entertain disobeying her so that she won’t take away his rank as a captain.
So he said to himself, "Until I earn the 10 grade 4 merit points needed to buy a Level 4 Dao Status, I have to listen to her. But holding the city won’t be easy at all. I will need more men."
Since he needed more people, he went to the communication channel of post 419 and said, "You might have already learned what happened since we went on the mission. What you definitely haven’t heard is that I have become the captain of the post."
"Right now, we have been ordered to hold this city. I will be issuing the order now, so you must come or pay a fine."
"If it is any consolation, there is less danger because we have received reinforcement from another post. And I’ve heard that more reinforcements are on their way. So you have very little to worry about. You can come here with peace of mind to earn merit points."
He lied about the news of more reinforcements. But he felt no shame doing so.
After saying what he needed to say to convince them, he used his authority as captain to issue an order. This is an order backed by the sect, so they have to obey, or they will be fined.
He got this support from the sect because he is issuing an order in line with the objectives given to him by his commander. So even if he were Greg, the sect would still support this order, no matter how unreliable he is.
His subordinates received the order immediately wherever they were in the small world. And while some of them grumbled, most of them were happy with the development.