Hunters hunting

The predator Megatron had built a reputation across kingdoms as an unforgiving one, his spears taking down bloated castles in succession. But predation is never a straight line of glory—there are moments of victory, and moments of bruising defeat for every great predator.

This chapter of his life began in Kingdom 450, in which the air reeked of blood.

The First Hunt – 21 Million Troops

Megatron's eyes fell upon an inflated target with 21 million troops inside, a stronghold that sat proudly puffed up. The foe had made the age-old mistake—trusting a combined wall formation without signature and with too many redundant tier-4 troops idle inside.

The target was well known in Kingdom 450, a one-time rising star in a middle-of-the-pack faction who believed mere numbers to be invincible. But the numbers without control are nothing more than meat for the grinder.

Megatron began with a ferocity.

His initial push cut through defenses like a hot knife cutting through butter, killing 7 million troops, driving a million more to the hospitals. It was cruel, deadly, and the kind of blow that even proximal allies were loathe to support.

The second strike was worse for the defender—10 million men dead in a single attack, his hospitals overflowing. In the final attack, the castle was reduced to a smoldering ruin, the lord dragged away in chains.

One castle wrecked. One legend shattered.

The Second Feast – 10 Million Soldiers

Before long, another careless player flung himself open with 10 million men behind his walls, not too prepared for what he was in for.

Megatron did not tarry.

Two swift shots, two precision hits—and the enemy castle came tumbling down like wet paper. The lord was captured, the power curve dipped precipitously, and Megatron's name spread once again across the land.

It was a textbook kill, efficient but almost too easy. For Megatron, it was a reminder that all hunts were not created equal—some were feasts, some were trials. He didn't yet realize it, but his next conflict would challenge him more than ever before.

The Disaster – 12 Million Troops, A Costly Mistake

The next day, word reached him of a second unbubbled castle—this one with 12 million infantry troops, defended by a well-structured wall arrangement and, most importantly, the player was armed.

For a moment, Dae hesitated. Infantry-infested castles were always hard for men like him. The chances of his strengths and weaknesses hung in his disadvantage, but hesitation was not in his blood.

"Maybe I can exceed my limits," he told himself.

Zooming in with a 75% army size increase, Dae assembled his best tier-5 fighters and proceeded. The procession unfolded, flags fluttering, the pride of a hunter to be won.

But when steel met steel, the result was catastrophic.

The enemy's foot guard bore the charge like a brick wall. Dae's inf shattered against it, his soldiers dying in thousands. In the end, it was his worst defeat in his career—nearly 400000 of his T5 men lost, barely escaping with his lord alive.

A chilling reminder: not all castles can be broken with force. Some walls have teeth.

Dae retreated, tending to his injuries. He once chose to leave the target alive.

The Joint Hunt – With Jess in Kingdom 50

After he'd recovered, Dae received a call from an experienced hunter, Jess, a legend for pinpoint punches and a gutsy infantry list. Jess had found something unusual: a world-class FFS player in Kingdom 50, inflated to more than 3 billion power, sitting in the open.

The target was a spear main, notorious for bullying low-tier kingdoms, and he was confident that nobody would be able to resist him with his enormous inventory of tier-4 and tier-5 armies.

Jess led the initial attack with infantry, battering into the core of the castle. The battle was vicious, but the victory was glorious—millions of T5s were reduced to ashes.

Without delay, they launched the second rally, killing another 11 million soldiers, reducing the target by nearly 800 million power in a matter of minutes.

But fate hardly ever allows hunters unlimited success. In the middle of organizing their third attack, the target's friends reported him on Discord. When he noticed he was under coordinated attack, he desperately went online and bubbled, his ego bruised but his castle intact.

Anyway, the damage was done. His tier-5 spine was gone, his reputation in tatters.

Reflections of a Hunter

The week said it all about being a hunter.

Megatron had towered onto the scene in Kingdom 403, annihilating 21 million and 10 million troop castles with ease. Dae'd suffered bitter loss in Kingdom 403, when pride got the better of him and he charged into an infantry fortress and lost nearly everything. And he'd partnered with Jess in Kingdom 50 to demonstrate that even the mightiest of FFS players could be beaten.

Hunting was not about merit or numbers. It was about finding boundaries, testing bravery, and creating terror among kingdoms that had deemed themselves indestructible.

Dae's story wasn't over yet. His pride bruised a bit but his appetite increased, he readied for the next hunt. Because hunters never quit.

They only hunt for the next castle to burn.