"… Oh my God," Tristan muttered as he looked at the chunk of minerals that had a blue color. "Where in the seven hells did you get this much Crythonium?!" Crythonium was an ultra-rare, icy-blue metal that retained its sub-zero temperature regardless of its surroundings. When refined and used as material in crafting ammunition, it flash-freezes whatever it strikes, making it a devastating tool against biological and mechanical targets alike. Found only in deep-space asteroids and frozen planetary cores, Crythonium is one of the most sought-after materials in high-tech warfare. "Did a meteorite fall on the Cygni Continent millions of years ago? How could this metal be under the radar for so long?" Tristan couldn't believe it because Crythonium was considered as a special ammunition only used for special military missions. It couldn't be used to fight ordinary monsters due to how precious it was. Ammunition made from this metal could turn the area it hit into ice. Imagine targeting the knee or a foot of a monster. Once it was hit by enough bullets, this body part could shatter like ice, making it a very strategic weapon for the military. "You haven't seen anything yet, Sir," Thirteen smirked. "Rocky, dump the second load." The Hellfire Bal-Boa nodded and opened its mouth. For a brief moment, Tristan thought Rocky was vomiting lava because the material pouring out of its mouth had the color of fire. White smoke also rose from the pile of red cores, showing how hot they were. "Wait, is this Pyronium?" Tristan's eyes widened in shock when he recognized the rare molten-core metal that never fully cools. "Now that I think about it, I can see mining these things without problems since he could swim in magma." If Crythonium could freeze its targets, Pyronium was the opposite. It could burn the target from within, setting them ablaze. But unlike Crythonium, Pyronium was more volatile and needed extreme caution when being used. Even the weapon that would use this metal as bullets must be able to withstand high temperatures to prevent any sort of devastating backfire. Fortunately, the Central Government had extensive experience on using both metals, so Tristan already knew what to do. "Thank you, Zion," Tristan said. "This will help us a lot in this campaign." "As long as it helps, the effort is worth it," Thirteen replied before shifting his attention to Rocky. "Good job, Rocky. Rest for a while." The Hellfire Bal-Boa nodded and returned under the ground to rest. It had been quite busy these past few days, and it really wanted to sleep for a day or two before accompanying his Master to another expedition. Tristan then called the specialists in charge of transporting the rare metals. They would then take them to the site where they'd be mass produced as bullets, serving as ammunition for the special weapons that could handle them. Of course, the Field Marshal was asked how he was able to obtain such precious metals by his subordinate. However, he just casually shrugged their question and said it was brought to him by the Central Government's special forces ordered to take on some missions behind the scenes. Since Rocky needed some rest, Thirteen decided to stay at the base for two more days. "Sir, the live broadcast of the Hero Party is being shown on TV." Sherry, who saw Zion walking down the hallway, saluted. Since there were people nearby, she acted like a proper soldier. Thirteen nodded and headed to the lobby, where the other members of the 69th Battalion gathered. Their eyes were all glued to the screen as the members of the Hero Party were shown to attack the Lizard Nest alongside the combined armies of the Cygni Coalition and the 40th Battalion of the Central Government. Watching the battle felt like watching a movie. Fireballs rained down from the sky, and although Erica couldn't be seen clearly, everyone knew she was the only one in that battlefield who had such an ability. Roland, Diana, and Derek stood at the front of the allied armies, while Shana and Mildred stood at the rear, serving as support. Erica's bombardment angered the Monsters, prompting them to charge at the human army to vent out their frustration. "Sir, they are now within range," one of the captains reported to Roland, the leader of this raid. "Open fire!" Roland ordered. Behind him, the roar of the artillery reverberated in the battlefield. Dozens of explosions sent dirt and gravel rising at the point of impact, creating a dust cloud. Even so, the bombardment didn't stop. They needed to annihilate or injure as many of the lizards as possible before they reached the front lines. "Aim!" Mildred, who was in command of the secondary bombardment team, shouted. "Fire!" Using her giant crossbow she had firmly planted on the ground, the Arcane Archer unleashed one of her most powerful attacks, which she once used against Zion during their duel. "Starfall Pandemonium Barrage!" The silver bolt that flew from the crossbow split into dozens of projectiles that rained on the battlefield like shooting stars. The soldiers who were holding bows and machine guns didn't need to be told a second time, and unleashed a deadly spray at their enemies. The Lizards, who looked like Komodo Dragons, died one after the other. Their comrades who had nowhere to run stepped onto their bodies, resuming their mad charge toward their enemies. Even though they understood that this was as suicidal act, they still decided to commit into it so that they could at least bring some of the humans to the afterlife with them. Unfortunately for the monsters, the human armies had prepared extensively for this raid. They didn't skimp on the resources to make this raid successful and had brought more than enough ammunition to keep their guns firing. The tanks fired non-stop, bringing devastation to anything they hit. Less than an hour later, the entire nest was wiped out from the face of the land. The surviving monsters had decided to flee, but those with flying avatars went after them, killing them without mercy. Throughout the entire battle, Roland never took his weapon out even once. The enemy had died before they could even reach the front lines, which made those watching the battle cheer from their homes. "Good job," Thirteen said softly when the reporter interviewed Shana and Erica after the battle ended. When it was Roland's turn to be interviewed, he looked straight at the camera and smiled. "This victory is for humanity," Roland said. "And we will continue to be victorious! So, watch us as we liberate this land from the Jinns!" Cheers erupted from the soldiers who were with the Hero Party. Thirteen smirked after seeing that Roland was starting to understand how to give people hope. "Lastly, I have a message for Zion Leventis," Roland stated. "I will be exchanging my merit points for the AK64 Apache. Sorry, but it's mine." The teenage boy, who was watching the Hero's interview, arched an eyebrow. The only one whom he told about his plan to buy the Military Attack Helicopter was Tristan. 'So that's how it is.' Thirteen laughed internally. 'You want to compete huh? Very well. Let's see if you can back up your words.' He didn't mind that Tristan divulged his plan to exchange his merit points for the Attack Helicopter. Thirteen wasn't that petty. In fact, he even found this quite amusing. Since Roland truly wished to compete with him, this meant that the young man would do everything in his power to win. For Roland, any win against Zion was a victory worth having. Truth be told, he wanted to spar against the teenage boy. But he believed that it would be unfair for Zion. The Hero had grown stronger after his two-years of training, and he was now confident that the "Rookie" wouldn't be able to beat him no matter what. So, to make things fair, he decided to ask Tristan if there was something that Zion really liked. The Field Marshal casually mentioned that Thirteen had a thing about helicopters and was planning to get the AK64 Apache through merit points. Now that he had a goal, Roland decided to go all in and finally settle things against the teenage boy, who made him realize how naive he was during the tournament. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂 Joshua's betrayal during the tournament was a heavy slap on Roland's face, which woke him up to reality. It made him realize that not everything revolved around him, and he would need to come to terms that there was always someone better than him in both fighting and scheming. The factions who heard the Hero's declaration suddenly realized that Roland and Zion seemed to have a rivalry with each other. "We can exploit this," one of the Patriarchs of the Prestigious Families said. "The Central Government isn't a monolith. As long as we can wiggle inside its cracks, we can move things in our favor." The other families nodded their heads in agreement. For now, they plan to join this little game and make sure that the one who would emerge victorious was Roland, who wanted nothing more than to beat Zion once and for all.