Zero to Peak: Ascension Online

Alone in the room, Ivan drafted his next course of action. He ascended to what had now become the top floor of the building. With most of the floor exposed to the sky, Ivan moved between the available cover, performing reconnaissance on the ground below. With his sharp eyesight and enhanced senses, he pinpointed the active battle zones in this area of the business district.

He was bothered by a thought he deemed unimportant—accomplishing the mission he had triggered. If there were no mission, he would have gone to another area or perhaps scouted for stranded and endangered civilians in this area to rescue. Now, he was considering helping the mafia soldiers deal with the aliens.

He didn't have a good impression of the mafia; they played a significant role in perpetrating crime and unrest in this region. Still, he put aside his differences with them.

He moved towards an active battle site. Let's call it Site B. Here, the aliens and the mafia soldiers were in a stalemate. Both sides had suffered casualties, fuelling their rage and desire to vanquish the other. At the moment, the mafia soldiers had ten units fighting, and the aliens had eleven. The aliens had lost six units from their original seventeen, and the mafia had lost three from their original thirteen.

At another site, Site C, a sudden rumble of explosive cracks threw the warriors on both sides into confusion. Both sides temporarily ceased fire, thinking their adversary had unleashed a trump card. Before they could react further, there was a thunderous squishing sound from the aliens' end on the ground below.

The mafia soldiers at Site C were stationed on the fourteenth floor, the current top floor of a cleaved 40-floor skyscraper. The soldiers took a risk and sent out their only probe drone to observe the vicinity.

"Bloody hell, guys, come and look at this. The aliens have been smothered into a smoothie," said the soldier holding the feedback camera and the drone's remote control.

His colleagues thought he was messing with them and scolded him for it.

"On my freaking mother's life, I'm not messing with you. The aliens aren't there anymore. Why would you doubt me? I don't joke in a life-or-death situation."

One of the soldiers came over and took a look at the footage. The aliens were indeed dead. The murderer was unknown. The soldier who had dared to look invited the others over. They all looked at the footage, bewildered.

Meanwhile, the sudden crack of explosive sounds echoed through this deserted area of the business district. Ivan had wiped out the aliens from Site B, Site C, Site D, Site E, Site F, Site G, Site H, and Site I before any of the battling sides could understand what was happening.

He hadn't dealt with Site J and Site A. Site J was a no-go for him unless an opportunity presented itself. The battle in question was between the man clad in white and the two super-powered aliens. Somehow, the battle remained within the same area, but its tide had once again shifted in favour of the aliens. The man in white had exhausted his buff period and reverted to his regular self, the exquisite, deified appearance he had been bestowed vanishing.

Ivan had left Site A for last because he had appeared close to it and had already surveyed the area with his super senses. He hadn't detected any other civilians in distress apart from those in the building where Saint Angouleme had appeared.

At Battle Site A, the mafia soldiers had taken various positions within and outside a building. The aliens were still close to their crashed battleship. Both opposing sides boasted a few powered beings in their ranks. They had also received support units while Ivan was busy saving people. At present, each side had over fifty active units.

The loud crack of explosive sounds from over six hundred metres away had prompted the aliens to act. They had certainly noticed the unusual calmness in the distance after the series of earth-splitting sounds. They intended to take the building to have a high point from which to observe the situation. The aliens had lost significant gadgets in the battleship crash and during the ongoing battle at this site.

The super-powered aliens took the initiative, leading the attack.

"Motherfuckers!" the leader of this group of mafia soldiers cursed. He was positioned at the very top of the building.

Crimson Gene, the Und at the forefront of the alien charge, smashed into the ground force's barricade, damaging it as they unleashed a reckless but precise and ruthless barrage of plasma bullets. With this swift action, the mafia force lost fifteen units. The aliens charged towards the building, their speed almost twice that of a peak Olympic athlete.

Crack! Crack! Crack! Cling! Thud! A series of sudden loud blasts cut through the charging group of aliens. Ivan arrived in a blur, ruthlessly cleaving through them. One of the powered aliens managed to block his sword strike with the barrel of their rifle. Ivan followed up the blocked attack with a devastating punch that connected squarely with the alien's head, mashing it to pieces.

A single soldier had survived the sudden alien charge. The soldier's situation had triggered Ivan's passive skill, Guardian. The skill buffed Ivan's prowess, making him powerful enough to mash the head of an alien of "Honoured Bronze Rank".

Ivan moved with terrifying and overbearing strength as he dominated and decimated the aliens, gifting the mafia soldiers an undeserved victory.

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Mission Description: You have been deployed into the active war in Section 1. Your mission is to survive the battle, save more than 10 million people, help vanquish over ten thousand alien soldiers, and kill at least one leader of an alien platoon/squad/battalion.

Unds Soldiers Killed: 200/10,000

Civilians Saved: 120/10,000,000

Alien Leader Killed: 1/1

Note: You must accomplish all points given to you in this mission. Penalty for Failure: You will lose four learned abilities and 100,000 exp points.

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Ivan sighed in relief on seeing that he had completed one point in the mission.