Elsewhere.
In a room in Sky City, Sanyou Weimen and Roland were gathered together, considering the problems before them. Neither had expected that just when they both thought victory was assured, Radvijev's critical illness would plunge all the players in Radvijev's guild into self-reproach.
Rage turned their formerly fractured emotions into unity. In particular, Radvijev's letter to all his compatriots, mockingly called a self-condemnation edict, had directly resulted in Sanyou Weimen and Roland being unable to advance another inch after capturing 117 of Radvijev's fortresses.
Even within those 117 fortresses, Russian and Moroccan players began carrying out large-scale reprisals, forcing Sanyou Weimen and Roland to deploy heavy forces to suppress the players in the occupied territories.
But this suppression was vastly different from before because, on the front lines, the Goddess of War Chekov had taken over the guild.
After every crack in the formerly divided guild had been mended, the powerful Russian guild gave Sanyou Weimen and Roland no end of trouble.
In their clashes along the border, Russian players who feared no death counterattacked Sanyou Weimen and Roland day and night. Coupled with reprisals in the occupied territories, not only could the two not advance, they had nearly lost several fortresses.
"That damned woman! Once I catch her, I'll never let her off!" Roland smashed the glass in his hand in fury.
Sanyou Weimen sat kneeling on a chair beside him and said thoughtfully, "No need to wait. That woman has come looking for us herself."
"What do you mean?" Roland asked instinctively. Then he noticed his communicator ringing. It was an invitation to a special space, and the inviter was Chekov.
Back when they had still been allies, Chekov, Sanyou Weimen, and the others had all added one another as friends. But after this surprise attack, Chekov