Trailer

Inside a room crowded with game pods. Mantou sat before his computer eating a boxed lunch, bored out of his mind as he scrolled through a gaming platform. "Flashback 12, The Walking Dead: Destinies, Order of the Dwarves..." "What is all this crap? It's enough material for another episode of my Trash Game Showcase. Can someone pay me worker's comp for this? Damn." Mantou took a bite of a chicken leg and couldn't help grumbling, "When is Elezerg finally going to launch? I'm practically bored to tears these days. Sigh, wonder how Noodles is doing lately. I miss riding on the back of my wyvern." As he chewed his chicken, a gaming update popped up in his "Special Follows" feed. To his surprise, it came directly from the mysterious official team behind Elezerg. Elezerg will officially enter open beta in three days! Version 1.0: Northland Winds is about to begin! "Heh, it's finally here!" Mantou rubbed his hands together, wiped the grease from his lips, and clicked in without a second thought. The moment he opened the video, the player was still pitch-black and hadn't even finished loading, yet countless scrolling comments had already flooded the screen. "Can't wait can't wait can't wait!" "Wuhu~ Let's go!" "I've waited so long for this!" "Do you know how I survived this past year?" "Closed beta veteran in tears. I basically grew up playing Elezerg." "Euro-dogs get lost! I still haven't snagged a spot!" "Damn, turns out I'm not the only African." Elezerg had made a full fifty thousand slots available for this open beta, but in under three hours, frenzied players had snapped up every single one. Had the game not been tied to personal identity verification, access keys alone would likely have been scalped for exorbitant sums. A player who failed to get a slot had even posted on the forum: "Being European is just the baseline requirement to get into the game." Watching the barrage of comments crying out in misery and begging the developers to release more slots, Mantou couldn't resist a gloating grin. "Heheh, good thing I acted decisively back during closed beta. That's real skill right there." He made no attempt to conceal his smug, punchable face. A gentle, dynamic musical intro began to play, and the screen suddenly brightened. It opened with a young deer nibbling wild grass in the center of the frame, followed by a dramatic upward crane shot. Wolves sprinting across the plains, goblins on the hunt, and even wandering hill giants appeared across the landscape. Dense forests, bleak, snow-draped barrens, and rolling mountain ranges swept into view one after another as the music swelled into something truly grand. "High-budget masterpiece!" "What a massive production!" "Wait, isn't that Storm Heights?" "The hill giant, slayer of rookies! Beta veterans crying again." "Hill Giant: Like my big club? Have a taste!" "Holy crap, is this actual in-game footage?" "Veteran player guarantees it: one hundred percent real!" A narrator's voice entered right on cue: "This is the Great Anzetta Waste, located in the northwestern reaches of Elzerg's western continent. Ringed by the majestic Anstica Mountains, it is known as the 'Springless Land' due to its year-round freezing climate. "Orcs, giants, goblins, and even true dragons—countless living beings share this vast, desolate land." Mantou picked up a slice of meat with his chopsticks, popped it into his mouth, and chewed with relish. With greasy lips, he didn't forget to praise, "This makes the food go down so well!" The narrator's tone suddenly paused. "Yet like any land, beneath its surface lurk endless darkness and fathomless sins." "Oppression." The scene shifted to reveal an emaciated serf shivering in the bitter wind, mercilessly lashed by a master's leather whip before collapsing into the snow. "Damn, that realistic?" "Poor NPC..." "Time for us players to liberate them!" "Resist Northland tyranny! Anzeta belongs to the Kingdom!" Comments rolled across the screen without pause as the narrator's low voice continued. "Slaughter." The screen flashed again. Inside a gloomy ancient fortress, several nude spawn were bound to stone pillars, chanting an eerie tune. A crazed vampire duke wore a gruesome grin as he summoned a torrential mist of blood, draining countless humans into shriveled husks. "This boss is terrifying." "Hahahaha, isn't that the old pervert who molested Lang-beast?" "Tell me more about this molestation." "Woke up too fast—I actually saw myself in the trailer! I'm the most handsome-looking dried corpse." "Your skin is shriveled into prunes, what looks could anyone possibly see?" The tide of comments surged on, and the background music grew increasingly heavy. "Plunder." The camera cut to a white blizzard sweeping across the wasteland. Accompanied by howling wind and snow, hundreds of frost giants marched south, shaking the earth with thunderous steps. "Chaos." The screen plunged into darkness. Deep within a pitch-black cavern littered with vile gore and severed limbs, bizarrely warped demons slowly emerged from the shadows, letting out frantic, discordant shrieks. At the cavern's deepest recess, perched atop a stone throne adorned with twisted human faces, a fallen giant smiled unnervingly. "Is that a teaser for a new boss?" "Damn, looks like we're fighting Abyss demons." "Finally some new intel! Beta vets weeping tears of joy." "Abyss demons?" Mantou mixed his pickled vegetables into his rice, wolfing it down while keeping his eyes glued to the screen. Suddenly, the screen went black once more, and the score abruptly turned fierce and stirring. The narrator's voice rang out with resounding power. "Yet a brand-new power is rising. A new era is about to dawn." Light returned to the screen. Wyvern knights soared through the sky in hot pursuit of a squadron of giant eagle knights, locked in a fierce dogfight. Mantou's eyes went wide. Forgetting his food entirely, he blurted out, "Wait, isn't that me? The devs really do know talent when they see it!" "You will change this world." Players unleashed dazzling spells, loosed swift arrows, or shifted into brown bears, confronting an eclectic array of foes—human armies, vampire spawn, and draconic aberrations. Factories rose from the earth; steam trains billowed plumes of white smoke; magitech armor strode across the land, and artillery shells traced elegant arcs through the sky—all changes brought to this world by players. "Or... destroy it." A long, deep roar echoed from afar, and the music swelled to monumental heights. A colossal red dragon beat its wings, slowly gliding forward amidst boundless flames, painting the entire horizon crimson. Across the ground lay countless charred remains, and ash drifted through the air—the very "calamity" of the Battle of Trier, where Cassius had annihilated tens of thousands of coalition soldiers. "Elezerg—Northland Winds." At last, the frame froze on the dragon's gushing breath of fire. Emblazoned in gold foil at the center were the words Elezerg, and a fresh wave of comments exploded across the screen. "Now that's a spectacle!" "This dragon is pretty badass. Is he the final boss?" "Whose barbecue joint is this?" "Brother Kai has so much clout, getting the closing shot of the trailer!" "Long live the Kingdom of Cinders! Overthrow Northland tyranny, Anzeta belongs to the Kingdom!" "Hehehe, Lord Cassius, I want to..." Mantou finished his last bite of rice with pickled vegetables, swallowing it in a hurry. He knew he was about to have his hands full.