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A densely wooded island inside Russia

5:30 AM local time (6 minutes after detonation)

When the Dracosys picked dungeon sites, it labeled religious or ritualistic cannibalism as "mid emotional importance," and forced cannibalism as "high emotional importance." Thus cultural cannibalism related dungeons were given 20-40 floors while forced cannibalism sites were given 70+ floors. Nazino Island had a 90 floor dungeon.

Nazino Island was set in the middle of a wide river in Russia. It was there that, in 1933, Russia decided to offload 6,700 prisoners and told them "go make a settlement." The prisoners were given so little to eat that the first incidents of cannibalism were recorded just 3 days after the first batch of "settlers" arrived. Overall 2/3rds of the people left there died in a matter of weeks.

The dungeon itself wasn't much to look at. It was a cluster of trees surrounding a hole in the ground. It had taken the locals two months to find it. Of course it took so long because the locals had to deal with dungeon break monsters to even set foot on the island. And when they counted the dungeon break waves, finding them to last 90 hours, they knew they'd never be rid of the place. So Nazino called out for help. The Russian government and army was in shambles. A certain private company expressed interest in handling the situation.

The only theme the Nazino dungeon had was "things that want to eat humans." So it threw zombies, dinosaurs, bears and ogres at the team of four Song Jiang was training. A lot of the monsters were on the large size.

Hak-Kun Han's jagged red lightning punched through a 20-foot-tall bear. The lightning continued to pulse out of his hand, and he swung it around like a whip, slashing through another giant bear before it cut off.

"You released too quick!" Song Jiang yelled down from where he was standing in the air above them. His long grey coat slightly fluttered around him.

"I would have hit Fang!" Hak-Kun shouted back.

Song looked over to where Fang Zan was, next to a bear he'd just killed. Fang disappeared, reappearing 200 feet away next to another giant bear. The bear's massive leg was severed before it even knew Fang was there. Fang's sword was second to none.

Song floated so he was directly above Hak-Kun, a wisp of smoke trailing his feet. "No, you would not have hit Fang. You cannot hit Fang. You should already be charging your next spell, instead of looking up at me."

Hak-Kun glowered and cursed quietly. Song knew he was still a boy. A useful boy, integral in getting a castle, but a child. Temperamental, but also easy to manipulate.

The two women on the team, Yelena Abrinski and Xiong Na were the two main ways Song had to manipulate Hak-Kun. Yelena was a former KGB spy, willing to sleep with someone to work an angle. Xiong was small and cute. Neither even had to sleep with him yet. Just flirting with the kid would make him cave into any demand.

Hak-Kun was the artillery. Song had to kick the crap out of him several times before Hak-Kun got the message. He was shit in close combat. He was shit in a gunfight. He was a cannon. A nearly immoral cannon, with his regeneration perks, but still a cannon. Hak-Kun still wasn't happy being essentially the back line blaster, instead of the front line hero he thought he'd be.

Hak-Kun flew up and to the right, strafing a bear as he charged his next big bolt. He finished the charge just as he'd lined up two bears in a row. The bolt, itself half a meter wide, crackled and jumped erratically as it flew forward. The random nature of the bolt effectively turned it into a two meter wide column of death. Bears and trees were obliterated in its path.

He needs to up his Agility to take advantage of that flight better, Song thought. If I can use him less like a stationary cannon and more like a tank or bomber, that might give him the pride he so desperately seeks. I'll get Yelena to talk him into dumping points in Agility.

Song's phone beeped. He checked it and smirked. "Finish those off and come over!" he yelled to the team.

Song floated down into a clearing and waited for the last three bears to fall. Xiong Na was already there, surrounded by four of Yelena's "pieces." Marble golems patterned after chess pawns. Xiong had to be stationary to use her Gilded Overwatch class abilities. That was the only drawback. Good thing Yelena and her got along so well. Their abilities paired together almost perfectly. Yelena watched Xiong's back while Xiong watched everything else.

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Xiong Na wore regular military clothes and armor. She didn't have any special abilities for protection, so she kept to tried and true ballistic gear. Her tan camo uniform would have looked at home in any military across the planet. Heavy ballistic plating didn't come in extra small size, however, and she looked like a kid who'd stolen a real soldier's equipment.

Song heard the last bear collapse and three figures came towards him through the trees.

Fang Zan was an exceedingly handsome Chinese man, dressed in the embroidered robes of a master martial artist. The robes were matte black with glossy black stitching, making the intricate details almost impossible to see in normal lighting. In the before dawn hours, Fang was pure shadow. His sword, a black bladed jian with glowing red inscriptions, floated at his side.

Yelena Abrinski's White Queen armor stomped through the woods, the two meter tall mech suit knocking over trees as she approached. Her armor was just like the woman herself, rounded but smooth, with an air of nobility and class. The front of the stone suit folded down and she pulled herself out, revealing her skin-tight black tights and white, short-cropped shirt. Once she knew Hak-Kun was watching her, she pulled her platinum blonde hair out of a bun and let it fall down her back.

Compared to the others, Hak-Kun always looked like a wreck. His red lightning blew through almost anything, and that included his own clothes. The tiniest stray spark could tear a normal man in half. Hak-Kun himself was now immune but his own clothes weren't. He'd taken to wearing cheap white t-shirts and black sweat pants, just to keep his clothing costs down. In the last fight he'd obviously lost his right pant leg and his shirt had a huge slash in it. At least Song had convinced him not to wear that silly cloak anymore. He'd looked like post-steroids goth Gandalf.

"Los Angeles was attacked by the Ambrose Society," Song said, holding up his phone so everyone could see the news footage. "Another nuclear weapon." Fang didn't speak English so Song repeated it in Cantonese.

Song watched their reactions. Yelena's eyebrows rose with interest. Fang stood stoic and unmoved. Xiong looked sick. And Hak-Kun looked... Confused.

"Do we know why LA?" he asked.

"Population center," was Xiong Na's quiet reply.

"Losers," Hak-Kun said as he rolled his eyes at the news footage of thousands dying. "Ambrose should have hit DC and save us some time."

"Dracosys sites are immune to external damage," Yelena provided. "Even nuclear weapons. They have protections. A bomb in Washington would not have destroyed the White House."

Hak-Kun turned to her. "I. Fucking. Know. That. I wrote the fucking code! Still would have killed a lot of dumbass American soldiers and shit!"

Song sighed. Hak-Kun couldn't stop telling people he'd made the Dracosys. It was a problem. It was just one more reason he was expendable. The sooner Song sent this idiot off to die, the better.

Fang went to the campfire and checked the teapot. It was presumably still warm enough, as he poured himself a cup of green tea. He claimed it was vital to his "cultivation." Song thought Fang was probably insane. At least insane enough to not care about millions dying at once.

Yelena was staring down Hak-Kun. She was playing the dominant woman to his school boy fantasies. Even her explanation of the Dracosys was probably a move to put Hak-Kun exactly where she wanted him. She smirked down at the boy. Yelena was 12 centimeters taller than him, and used every cm to her advantage.

Her lips curled as she worked him. "Don't worry, my little Hak. We will kill your American past. And then maybe I'll give you a warm, Russian future." Her husky voice practically purred the last three words.

Hak-Kun turned red. The kid's still babyish face on a Dracosys enhanced, muscular body struck Song as wrong. Yelena was a damn good actress.

"We're here for another three and a half days," Song said, handing the phone over to Xiong. "Keep your emotions low. You can do... whatever... Back at the base." Song lit up a Zhonghua cigarette to try and take the edge off. Song liked the pricier Zhonghua. They tasted like success.

Song Jiang had three and a half days to get this team into shape before they went home. They didn't have to be perfect. They just had to be able to pull off the mission. It was alright if one or two died in the process. These 6th Step classers weren't so rare that they were irreplaceable. A castle core, now that was irreplaceable. Only a few of those in the world. And Mr. Huizong had plans for the White House core. Song was going to deliver that core to Mr. Huizong. It would reshape the power structure of China. It could shape the new world.

An overthrow of the corrupt political machinery. A revolution that favored the masses. The end of oligarchs. It was all Song Jiang ever wanted. And he had the plan, power, will and killing intent to make it a reality.

Xiong Na watched the newswith tears in her eyes. Fang sat down and began to meditate. Yelena moved away to do unnecessarily provocative stretches. Hak-Kun zipped himself in his tent to sulk, pleasure himself, or both.

Yeah, Song could help shape the new world. He just had to train four dysfunctional, 6th step leveled first.

Song was going to need a lot more cigarettes.

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