Playing with Fire - Invading SIN

The nights have been very cold lately. The sound of the wind hitting the window in the middle of the night feels like ghosts whispering, warning that terror is coming for us. Even knowing this, many kingdoms and alliances continue their wars, and the bloodshed seems to have no end.

Some important events are starting very soon, and I need to preserve my resources and troops if I want to help my alliance. I am not the strongest here, but I know how important I can be in the fight against the other teams. Yet at the same time, my hunter’s instinct was beginning to call me toward a new adventure.

I had received the coordinates of two targets, a cavalry castle in Kingdom 347. That was the kind of target I would never refuse, but memories of that kingdom began to resurface. The SIN Alliance had already been on my long list of victims several times, and they had earned my respect. In all of my invasions, they never hesitated to hunt me down and fight back to defend their allies. Nowadays, that is something very rare.

Before deciding to invade Kingdom 347 once again, I started creating a plan. I noticed that many players were online, and that would be a problem. But I saw that they were all gathering resources for the winter, which meant they would not be able to move anytime soon. So when SIN realizes that I’m attacking them and tries to react, it will already be too late. It was the perfect strategy, but would it work?

The plan seemed perfect up to that point, but the other half of the strategy was still not ready, and that was exactly the part that could ruin everything… because my first target was a cavalry castle, and the second was infantry, and that was the only information I had.

I could have easily sent a scout there, but I was afraid it might draw attention and ruin the entire operation. NoMask was an important piece in that alliance, and that was a moment when losing a key warrior like him would create a serious gap in both the alliance and their organization for the upcoming events. Because of that, I knew they would drop the defense tower at the first opportunity to protect their player.

The plan was set, and after a few minutes, I was already inside Kingdom 347. The most important detail was clear: I needed to be very fast! So I launched the first attack against Annihilator, from the HIW alliance.

I knew I could not waste any time. I wanted to launch the second attack as quickly as possible. But I had to pause for a moment to analyze and understand who my target was and how the outcome of that battle had been.

Annihilator surprised me. I had expected far more resistance from someone who had no disadvantage against me. He watched his wall collapse and more than 4.2 million of his soldiers be swept from the battlefield within minutes, while only 128 thousand of my men were killed, a small price compared to the scale of that victory.

After that attack, I was certain I could defeat my target without suffering heavy losses. I healed the 26 thousand men that were in the hospital and launched the second attack and the third attack.

This time, Annihilator no longer had his wall to defend his fortress, so my cavalry had a clear path to advance into the castle, bringing destruction and chaos. More than 8 million troops were completely erased from the map in that second and third impact.

My men were proud of what they were doing, and for a moment, we forgot the danger we were in. We were not there for revenge or to steal the crown and kill the king. We were there because our blood demanded it. We are hunters, and our spirit calls for bloody adventures every morning. It is not something we can refuse or ignore.

From that moment on, I could not afford to lose any more time. I noticed the wind beginning to shift and the sky turning dark and cloudy. It was not a good sign. SIN had been alerted about my presence, and I could suffer an ambush at any moment, just as had happened in my previous invasions. I launched the second attack.

Annihilator collapsed. His castle was burning, his army was being destroyed, and innocent civilians were fleeing to a safe place. My location was not exposed yet, SIN still did not know that I was there, but everything would change now… when I launched the first attack against NoMask, from SIN.

The first attack was painful for NoMask, who lost more than 3.2 million troops and wounded more than 800 thousand. This time, however, his army was composed mainly of infantry troops, and an infantry lineup was defending the castle. Even with 11 million troops available for the battle, NoMask managed to eliminate only 163 thousand of my soldiers.

I could feel that the atmosphere in that kingdom was changing. Killer Angel was recalling her troops from resource gathering. I felt like I was about to relive that same nightmare once again. But the objective was not yet complete. NoMask still had troops inside his castle, and I needed to finish it. My men were ready, but we had already taken too long. Killer Angel would attack me as soon as I exposed my location.

I knew the risk; even so, I launched the attack.

The second attack on NoMask was even more devastating. There was no resistance at all, only his troops being crushed without any chance of survival. NoMask lost nearly 7 million troops in just two attacks. It was insane. It felt far too easy. I launched the attack and used 75% speed boots to avoid being captured.

The final attack destroyed what remained of NoMask troops. Those troops that were meant to transport resources were now scattered across the ground, feeding the crows. My mission was complete.

This time, I did things differently. I changed my location frequently to avoid being blockaded and captured. My previous invasions of SIN had shown me that they are always ready to fight back against invaders, and I knew that a single mistake could cost me everything I had built over the past months.

I left that kingdom with the feeling that I was being watched, and I had attacked NoMask with the constant expectation of falling into a trap at any moment. Few invasions are as tense as this one, and it is a lesson I will carry with me before ever considering returning to that kingdom again.