Chapter 790. Make A Sound in the East, then Strike in the West
While the joined guilds-trained soldiers were wreaking havoc at the rear of Arther’s army, the players themselves were not having a good time. Even with the help of the summoned creatures from their summoning crystals, there were just too many high-level individuals in the army. These high-level individuals had all gone to the front during the assault, hence why the guilds’ trained soldiers could do as they like at the rear against the weaker native soldiers.
For the seven guilds who had headquarters, they preferred it this way. The players would only lose one level as long as they wore Amulet of Rebirth. But if they lost the guild’s trained soldiers, it would take a long time to retrain a decent number. It was the guilds who had no headquarters and the independent players who didn’t like this arrangement. They had to go up against strong enemies at the front line while the guilds’ trained armies took care of the squishy soldiers at the back line. But then again, these trained soldiers were the seven guilds’ properties. It was their right to use these trained soldiers however they liked.
The assault of Arther’s army at the front line was less intense compared to when the two armies first clashed because Arther’s front line had lost support from its rear. However, even with this and the defending army’s solid formation and the boost from the Enhanced Defensive Ability magic scrolls, the players at the front line were still dropping like flies under Arther’s high-level officers’ onslaught.
If this continued, John’s army would soon be having problems maintaining their formation. Those that had companion tokens had already summoned them to endure the onslaught, but most of their companions were less in levels and grades compared to the native army’s high-level officers. Players with high martial expertise like Jet and Red Death were still able to cope to an extent. Although they couldn’t kill these high-level natives, these natives also had a hard time landing a hit. But this kind of player was rare in between.
“This doesn’t look good!” Fat Gregory uttered.
“Hold on. They will retreat,” John said.
“I can’t think of a reason why they will be doing that,” Kill Order said.
“They will!” John repeated. In his message, he asked Jack, “Where the hell are you?! Why haven’t you engaged?”
“I’m about to!” Jack sent a reply.
At the furthest hill of the Western hilly area where Arther’s and John’s armies were having a battle, a regiment of 3,000 soldiers came out from behind that hill. It was the regiment under Jack. This regiment was rushing on their steeds heading towards Fort Garadhor which was surrounded by Therribus’ remaining 40,000 soldiers. Jack had his Runestone of Marching summoned by his side, increasing the regiment’s speed under his command.
Therribus’ soldiers that were encircling the fort soon noticed this incoming regiment. They hurriedly readied themselves to face these enemies. The archers and magic users started sending ranged attacks as Jack’s regiment came near.
Jack’s regiment all unmount from their steeds. The shield-bearing soldiers took the front row as they used their shields to receive this first barrage of ranged attacks. They didn’t stop their advance while doing that. Jack, who was right behind these shield-bearing soldiers, came out when they were almost upon the enemies. He activated all his offensive-boosting skills, including his Storm Breaker’s Overlimit. He then used Wings of Devastation.
Thick green energy in the shape of gigantic wings emerged when Jack slashed his two longswords. The energy rushed forward and struck scores of enemies over a large area. The energy also traveled a long distance. All those who were hit lost around 11,000 HP. Many were also afflicted by Bleed and Dizzy status.
Jack was not done, he immediately followed up with Lightning God Barrage. Twenty lightning balls flew towards the enemy army. Jack spread the lightning balls out, hitting as many enemies as possible. This reduced the damage received by each soldier but many of the soldiers that were hit were paralyzed.
Due to the paralyzation, they couldn’t carry out a proper defensive action. Jack’s regiment was soon upon them. The quality of the soldiers in the two armies was equal but Jack’s regiment outnumbered the enemy.
The reason was, that even though the reserve army encircled the fort numbered 40,000, they were spread out in a very large area. This 40,000 army formed a large circle with the fort as its center. In the area that Jack’s regiment hit, the enemies clashing directly with them numbered only a bit over 1,000 soldiers.
The soldiers in the direct vicinity where the battle had taken place went to give support. But the soldiers further away stayed in their positions. Their order was to keep the fort encircled. What if when they went and clashed with the enemy, the third prince decided to flee at this time by utilizing the gap in the encirclement? They couldn’t afford to leave their positions. If it was the force from the fort that came out, this encircling army was allowed to leave their positions and converged on Prince Alonzo’s position. But if it was any other force, they had to stand their ground. Hence, the encircling army further away could only watch as their comrades clashed with the ambushing regiment.
Jack summoned Therras, his wolves, and his spirit weapon. He then took out his companion token and activated it. Arlcard appeared followed by black ominous winds.
‘Level 55?’ Jack thought after seeing Arlcard’s level. This vampire was not joking about his passion for leveling up.
Arlcard surveyed the situation. “What is this? A war?” He asked.
“Yes. Please use your Sonata of the Night to hold the enemies coming from that direction,” Jack said.
Arlcard didn’t say anything further, but Jack noticed the excited glint in the vampire’s eyes. Arlcard must be thinking this was another good opportunity to reap exp points. Spell formations quickly formed. Thick black fogs soon covered the battlefield.
While the black fog blocked one end of the enemy’s line, Jack had his regiment moving to the opposite side while killing as many soldiers as possible. Jack also fed 100 mana cores into his amulet, summoning an Ice Fiend Demon. This demon and Arlcard soon joined Miller and Bailey in taking on the enemy’s high-level officers on site, which was not many considering the enemy’s army was spread out, and so too were their high-level officers.
With their overpowering number, they continued to kill enemy soldiers and worked along the encircling line to continue killing as many as possible. Jack used his Supreme Dragon Form to help speed up the massacre. This situation soon came to the attention of both Arther and Prince Therribus when messenger soldiers came bearing reports.
They looked in the direction of where Jack was wreaking havoc. Both of them were having the same reaction even when the two were far apart. Their faces scowled with distaste. Both of them reviewed their current situations.
On Therribus’ side, the two armies were evenly matched. Therribus never meant to take down Armstrong. His intention from the start was simply to hold Armstrong’s army at bay while Arther decimated the outworlders army. However, after so long, he saw that Arther’s army was still in a heated battle.
On Arther’s side, he was similarly surprised and upset about not yet finished slaughtering the outworlders. Despite John’s rear ambush, his army was still at an advantage. Given time, his army would surely annihilate all these outworlders. However, from the current situation, it would take a rather long time. Too long than what he would like it to be.
Arther looked again in Jack’s direction. Unless they gave the order for the encircling army to forego their encircling position, they would continue to lose soldiers in this way. Would losing those soldiers be worth the annihilation of these outworlders here?
In his uncertainty, he was hit by the Water Serpent’s water jet. He suffered damage and lost mobility. A large pillar of water soon came down from the sky. It slammed onto him and force him down to the ground. Before Arther could regain his bearing, a large tsunami summoned by the water serpent hit him and all the native soldiers in his vicinity. They were washed far away while receiving large damages each second they were inside this tsunami.
Rage overcame Arther, he unleashed an enraged roar. A white fiery sphere enveloped his body, pushing all the water away. He then blasted out of the tsunami and became a meteor as he flew towards the water serpent.
The water serpent saw the incoming Arther. It again formed a water sphere that blocked Arther’s advance. But different from the last time, when this water sphere hit Arther’s white sphere, the water sphere was blasted apart. Arther’s speed didn’t even slow. He slammed directly onto the water serpent. The curtain of water that swirled around the water serpent tried to form a cushion to soften the impact. However, they evaporated once coming into contact with Arther’s white fiery sphere. The collision was so hard the impact sent the water serpent shredding through the ground for a long distance. A long trench was formed in the ground due to the water serpent’s friction with the ground.
The water serpent was not winning throughout its fight with Arther. It had been steadily losing HP. With the last attack, its HP was less than half already. All the players were worried when they saw Arther’s increased ferocity. If the water serpent died, nothing would be able to stand against this fearsome Lord Marshall.
The water serpent, however, didn’t show the intention of giving up. Despite its loss just now, it looked back at Arther with defiance. It uttered an earth-shaking roar. As if daring the Lord Marshall to attack it another time.
But before Arther could continue his assault, he sensed a blast of high-level energy and saw several pillars of light come down on the encircling army in an opposite direction from where Jack’s ambushing regiment was creating havoc. Not long after that, he heard the sound of a horn from where Prince Therribus was. He looked over with chagrin.
The horn was an order for a retreat.
