Online Game: Starting With SSS-Ranked Summons

As the world was engulfed by chaos, the governments of all countries were trying their hardest to maintain and lower the casualty rate.

...

Emergency Session - Allied Nations Council

The president of China's face filled the secure transmission screen, exhaustion evident despite his composed demeanour.

Three million casualties in China alone, and the number was increasing by the second.

"Status report from all allied nations," Zhang commanded, his voice calm during humanity's darkest hour.

President Dubois appeared from France, his usually pristine appearance dishevelled.

"Fourteen million confirmed deaths across Europe. Paris is under martial law. The Eiffel Tower..." He paused, swallowing hard.

"A pack of evolved monkeys used it as a climbing ladder."

Icons of civilisation reduced to playground equipment.

Prime Minister Fitzgerald connected from Canada, snow falling behind him through a shattered window.

"Vancouver Island has been almost completely evacuated. It's rough."

President Hassan joined from Palestine, explosions illuminating his bunker walls. "Jerusalem's defences are holding, but barely. Both demons seem particularly drawn to our country."

"And Arthur?" Zhang's question hung in the digital air like a sword waiting to fall.

Silence stretched across the encrypted connection.

The man who warned us has vanished when we need him most.

"No contact," Dubois admitted finally. "No sightings. No major interventions despite the global crisis."

Where is our saviour?

Hassan leaned closer to his camera. "The timing discrepancy bothers me. Five minutes early—"

"Five minutes!" Fitzgerald interrupted. "He predicted a global catastrophe within an hour. He was off by five fucking minutes!"

"Sigh...You are right. I'm not blaming him, but I'm just worried about the way that our opposition will use this to justify their next actions."

Close enough to save millions who heeded the warning.

Zhang raised his hand for silence. "The timing was close enough to matter. Without Arthur's warning, our casualties would be tripled, no, quadrupled."

The truth is bitter but undeniable.

"The American leaders wanted me to denounce him," Dubois continued.

Political pressure to abandon our strongest ally.

"I told them that anyone who could predict such an invasion within a five-minute margin deserved our continued trust and that they should drop their ego. Otherwise, they would be signing off their doom."

Hassan's transmission flickered as another explosion rocked his location. "Based on what we know. It's impossible for Arthur to die at this moment; he must be busy with something or preparing. Hopefully, we can find an answer soon."

Zhang processed this information. "Who knows..."

Thinking beyond today's battles.

"You think he's planning something bigger?" Fitzgerald asked.

Something that requires preparation over reaction.

"I think," Zhang replied carefully, "that a man who can predict global catastrophe doesn't waste energy on random acts of heroism."

Dubois nodded slowly.

"The Americans are holding without his support to be fair. Their military-first approach is working against the demon threats."

Conventional warfare versus impossible enemies.

Zhang's expression remained neutral despite private agreement. "Our focus should be survival and preparation for whatever Arthur has planned."

"But we're not sitting idle," Hassan interjected, leaning forward. "Our own beta players are coordinating regional defence networks. Jerusalem's walls are reinforced by awakened talents."

...

Inside the demon realm.

The lesser demon Vex'koth prostrated himself before the obsidian throne, his malformed body trembling with barely contained excitement.

"Most Glorious Prince Malthorn, Crusher of a Thousand Worlds—" Vex'koth's voice cracked with reverence and terror.

"Get to the point," Malthorn spoke, his four arms draped across the throne armrests carved from the bones of extinct species.

"Your magnificence, I bring news from the human realm!"

Prince Malthorn's burning eyes remained fixed on the strategic displays floating around his throne. Earth appeared as a three-dimensional hologram.

Boring. Absolutely boring.

"Speak quickly, worm."

This assignment is beneath me.

Vex'koth's head pressed against the obsidian floor. "Your tactical brilliance has exceeded all projections, Great Prince! The early deployment of defective units created perfect chaos!"

Of course it did. This is the most basic strategy in the book.

"According to our field assessments, approximately seventy percent of the human population will be eliminated before the second wave deployment!"

Laughter erupted from Vex'koth's throat. "Their leaders will scramble like insects! Their power proves useless against our defectives!"

Malthorn's expression remained unchanged. Boredom radiated from his massive body.

I commanded legions that devoured star systems. Now I'm assigned to exterminate primitives who've barely left their birth planet.

"Your strategic genius has—"

"Enough." Malthorn's voice carried enough authority to silence thunder. "Seventy percent casualties from such weak opposition is hardly worth celebrating."

The High Council gave me this assignment as punishment, not reward.

Vex'koth's excitement faltered. "But Most Glorious Prince, the humans possess weapons that can harm our defective units—"

"Defective units," Malthorn repeated with contempt. "The failed offspring of corrupted bloodlines. If humans can kill our rejects, what does that say about their actual threat level?"

Exactly nothing.

The Prince's primary arms gestured dismissively at the holographic display. "This world offers minimal strategic value. No rare minerals. No advanced technology. No warriors worth claiming for our armies."

While my brothers conquer civilisations that span galaxies, I'm stuck harvesting primitives.

"But Most Glorious Prince, as you know. The humans will possess one powerful champion," Vex'koth ventured carefully. "Like all worlds do. They might have an SS-Rank champion; he would be worth taking into consideration."

"One individual." Malthorn's laugh was like collapsing mountains. "A single anomaly in a species of insects."

Even their strongest champion probably wouldn't survive against the second wave.

The holographic Earth rotated slowly.

"Continue the extermination protocol," Malthorn commanded without enthusiasm. "Let me know when the second wave ends, also, make it quick. Tell the idiots venturing there not to play around and finish the job quickly."

Maybe if I finish this quickly, the High Council will assign me something worthy of my abilities.

"Eliminate the leaders. Eliminate their champions. Eliminate anyone capable of organising resistance."

Vex'koth's head touched the floor again. "Your wisdom illuminates all paths to victory, Most Glorious Prince!"

This Earth assignment will be finished within a few days. Then perhaps something more challenging.