The live chat exploded the second the server alert flashed across the screen:
"Wait, what?! The Astral Express crew actually pulled it off?!"
"I only looked away from their stream for five minutes! How did they dig up the Heart of the Ocean that fast?!"
"Haha, this is where the real fun begins! Every fleet on the map is going to swarm them, and the loose teams might start stabbing each other in the back for a shot at the prize."
"That was always bound to happen. Alliances were made up on the spot with zero official rules. The moment the ultimate prize shows up, people are going to turn on their own buddies to take the glory."
Down in the deep trench, Dan Heng saw March staring at the glowing jewel in a daze and called out urgently:
"March, move! Don't just stand there!"
"Right, right! I'm on it!" March snapped out of it, clutching the pack. "I didn't think picking this up would set off a map-wide siren!"
She gave the order to Slowking, who gathered the team and teleported them up through the dark water as far as its psychic range could reach.
The moment they reappeared in the middle depths, March passed the pack to Stelle.
The group boarded their high-speed aquatic mount, using the heavy recoil from a Blastoise's Hydro Pump like a rocket booster to surge toward the surface.
Once Blastoise ran out of breath, Dan Heng's Gyarados surged forward, taking the lead and bursting through the breaking waves into the open air.
High above the surf, Welt rode on the back of a Salamence, while Himeko and Pom-Pom hovered nearby on a Dragonite, waiting at the rendezvous coordinates.
"Himeko, Pom-Pom, Mr. Welt, it's all yours!" Dan Heng shouted, tossing the pack up as they broke the surface.
"Leave it to us, Pom! Dragonite, full speed ahead!" Pom-Pom pumped a tiny fist, and the orange dragon beat its wings, climbing straight toward the upper atmosphere with Welt trailing right beside them.
Up in the commentary booth, Robin's eyes lit up with admiration.
"Oh! The Astral Express crew is taking the fight from the sea straight into the sky! That is an exceptionally clever move."
"If I remember the event rules correctly," Robin noted, "the announcement stated that the Heart of the Ocean only broadcasts its coordinates while it rests in the water. It never said it would ping its position from the open air."
"That is still up in the air," Owlbert replied, leaning into his mic. "Let us check with the development team right away to get a clear ruling. Wordings like that can easily be unintended loopholes."
"Even putting technical loopholes aside, moving to the skies cuts out most of the competition," Robin continued smoothly. "Over ninety percent of the partners brought for an ocean hunt are pure Water types. Even counting Flying and Psychic partners, dual-types that can handle both deep water and high-altitude flight make up less than twenty percent of the field."
"That eliminates most of their pursuers before the chase even starts."
"Very true," Owlbert nodded, tilting his feathered head. "The sky is massive. Even if that twenty percent takes off, finding a single group above the clouds is like looking for a needle in a haystack. If they hide inside a thick cloud layer, tracking them will be nearly impossible."
"Still, I doubt the organizers would let a loop like this run without a catch. Let us wait for the official response. Meanwhile, the other fleets are converging on the spot where the jewel last pinged from the depths."
Being a bird himself, Owlbert knew the boundless freedom of the skies better than anyone.
Up in the heavens, Himeko, Welt, and Pom-Pom slipped behind a dense, fluffy cloud bank, leaving the open water far below.
"It looks like the initial getaway worked," Himeko said, looking down through the gaps in the white mist.
"It seems clean for now," Welt murmured, adjusting his glasses with a thoughtful look. "Yet knowing Julian, he would never leave such an obvious shortcut open without a countermeasure."
"That rule description felt less like an oversight and more like an open hint, nudging players to lift the jewel out of the sea to see what happens."
"We should stay alert. Whatever comes next, we take it in stride."
Waaaaah!
Right when the next map-wide coordinate ping was scheduled to pulse, a sharp, blaring siren cut through every player's audio feed instead of a location marker.
In the commentary booth, a priority message from the game team popped up on Owlbert's screen.
"Attention, everyone! We have the official ruling from the organizers," Owlbert announced, his eyes widening as he read the prompt. "Taking the Heart of the Ocean out of the water will indeed stop it from broadcasting its exact location. However..."
"If the jewel remains separated from the sea for too long, the ocean falls into chaos without its core energy. A massive, catastrophic sea storm will sweep across the entire map, shutting down every turn-in buoy and extraction point!"
"Any player caught in the raging storm wall will be instantly eliminated. The eye of the storm will shrink steadily inward over time. When it reaches its final boundary, a central altar will rise. The player holding the Heart of the Ocean must place it on the altar and defend it for one full minute."
"You either hold that ground to the end, or you wipe out the remaining competition to claim victory!"
"Once the storm begins, putting the jewel back into the water will not stop it."
Owlbert set the paper down, stunned. "The rules completely flipped the game on its head!"
"It appears that hint was indeed a trap to draw the jewel into the sky, shifting the match into a closed ring," Robin said with an amused smile. "The organizers call this a hidden battle royale phase, which fits the situation perfectly."
The initial plan of searching, ambushing, and slipping away to cash in points was gone. Now, no one could run, and everyone was funneled into a closing circle where fighting was mandatory.
Every squad in your path had to be eliminated. For top-tier players, letting too many survivors crowd the final circle would only create unmanageable chaos.
The same system notice appeared before every active player on the map.
Welt shook his head with a faint sigh. His intuition had been right on the money, but having the rules change midway through still took him by surprise.
"So, do we pull out our backup plan now, Pom?" Pom-Pom asked, looking up with wide ears.
"Not yet," Himeko replied calmly. "Keeping our hidden cards tucked away will give us a bigger surprise later."
"Let us head down and regroup with the three younger ones first. Wandering alone in a shrinking circle makes us an easy target if we run into a full squad."
Now that the map was closing in, they needed to start trimming down the field themselves. Letting dozens of teams reach the final altar would make holding the objective a nightmare.
Down on the water, far from the rising wind, Jing Yuan sat comfortably atop the broad back of a Wailord, looking utterly relaxed.
Looking at his squad's lineup, they carried an even spread of Flying, Psychic, and Water partners, along with a high-flying Dragonite. It was clear the General had anticipated the Trailblazers' moves from the start.
He might have planned to hunt for the jewel himself alongside Yanqing, but seeing the Express crew chasing the same goal, he had simply handed over the clues to watch how the game unfolded.
To him, who dug up the stone was trivial; what mattered was who held it when the dust settled.
Compared to managing the vast affairs of the Alliance and directing thousands of troops across galactic frontlines, navigating a lighthearted festival game was a relaxing breeze. He barely had to spend a second thinking to guess his opponents' team comps and tactical habits.
Watching the dark storm clouds gathering on the distant horizon, Jing Yuan gauged the angle of the closing ring and turned toward his young apprentice with an easy smile:
"Yanqing, take us southeast. If you cross paths with other players, don't bother dodging them. Clear the path directly."
30+ chapters are available now and daily updates!
@patreon.com/AgentTwilight