Chapter 200 – Stone Puppets
Only when the Stone Puppets appeared did the Monster Siege truly reached its climax.
The mobs were three-meters tall with both high defense and attack and also possessed the ability to throw stones at their opponents. Suffice to say; these stone creatures were a nightmare for any siege defender. This didn’t even take into account their natural physical damage resistance.
Around over a thousand Stone Puppets speedily walked forth, shaking the earth with every step. Even the walls swayed a little.
The players atop the wall turned snow white as they watched the incoming puppets. Everyone nervously swallowed their saliva and instinctively tightened their grip on their weapons.
“Do not be afraid, everyone. No matter how strong the Stone Puppets are, we can overpower them. As long as we are united, we can definitely kill them all!” Rosethorn started to boost morale.
“The Stone Puppets aren’t scary. What’s scary is that they have appeared this early. I wonder what’s gonna come out in the next three waves.”
“I knew it. How can it be that easy to establish a guild base? If the Ice Rose Alliance wants to be the first, they must pay a certain price.”
“You haven’t seen anything yet. Even if the Ice Rose Alliance can defend the base, their members will still have lost at least two or three levels by the end.”
As the onlookers discussed, the Stone Puppets had already entered the attack range.
“Archers, fire!”
Rosethorn’s expression was severe. The archers fired a succinct volley but were only rewarded with a sliver of health taken from a portion of the mobs.
“Such high physical defense!”
“What are they gonna do now?”
“Earth mages, Mire Trap, go!” At the command, a series of yellow-colored spells landed before the Stone Puppets. They didn’t deal any damage and instead formed patches of marshland on the ground. When the puppets stepped on the marsh, they were immediately ensnared and had their speed significantly reduced.
“Attack at will!” Rosethorn shouted. Finally able to delay the monsters for a short while, her expression relaxed a bit.
Magic spells and arrows fell onto the monsters like rain. Some particularly violent priests would occasionally send out offensive attacks to supplement the others, while the warriors, knights, and rogues could only stand and gawk. Faced with this many Stone Puppets, there was no other choice but to grind them out with long-ranged attacks. Close combat was no different from suicide and would result in a high number of casualties even if they could forcefully slaughter all the Stone Puppets that way.
The Mire Traps brought about quite an ideal result, as nearly two hundred mobs were stuck in the marsh while long-ranged attacks assaulted them. However, the puppets were indeed tough; while enduring the ensuing attacks, they were able to trudge forth enough to get the defenders within range.
Bang! The first stone was thrown, followed by more and more soaring towards the wall. In a second, numerous players were injured, and some were directly crushed into nothing but a bunch of gore.
Boom! A boulder smashed into the wall. Not only did it scare the nearby players away, but it also left a hole in the wall.
“Knights, advance, and defend. Long-ranged classes, speed up your attacks!”
Correspondingly, all the knights dismounted and went to stand on the wall with their shields in hand. One after another, the shields were put up in front of the mages and archers. At the same time, countless warm healing lights rained down and enshrouded all the players on the wall.
With their comrades’ aid, the long-ranged players disregarded everything and threw their attacks at the Stone Puppets in a frenzy. Both sides had commenced a battle of speed to see who could knock down the other first.
Boom! A huge boulder landed atop the wall, directly throwing off two knights and knocked a large chip off the wall itself.
Pop, pop. Two huge stones smashed one of the defending players into a mass of meat before she could emit a sound. By association, a mage behind her was thrown off the wall.
“Guild Master, we will be unable to hold on at this rate. Even if we can kill them all, our wall has already suffered irreparable damage. It’s impossible to defend against the next wave,” PureElegance frantically shouted.
“What else can we do now?” Rosethorn was also helpless, “Putting aside the wall, our sisters have also had a large number of casualties. This setback will affect our defensive plans for after the siege as well.”
“I’ll go deal with the Stone Puppet King,” Ice Witch said blandly.
“Ah? You can’t! It’s too dangerous!” Rosethorn hastily dissuaded.
“No problem. It is but a mere Stone Puppet King, it’s not a big deal,” Ice Witch turned her sights towards the enemy. With a soft battle cry, she directly leaped off the wall and into the fray.
“Quick, deploy Team Ice to help our Guild Master slay the Stone Puppet King,” Rosethorn urgently shouted.
“Wow, Ice Witch is personally stepping up.”
“It seems that she wants to assassinate the Stone Puppet King.”
“The Ice Swordsman hidden class! I wonder how strong it is.”
“This is only the seventh wave, and it’s already that dangerous. How are they gonna defend against the next three?”
“Big Bro, it seems that this is all the Ice Rose Alliance is capable of. They won’t be able to defend this base.” Atop a mountain hill, many players were also observing the battle. The only difference was that they all belonged to the same guild.
“Ice Witch only took action herself to minimize their casualties. It’s not a big problem yet. Even if she loses a few levels, as long as the defense battle ends in a victory, the Ice Rose Alliance will be the leading guild in the entire CN region.” The “big bro,” who was also known as Guild Master Fierce Dragon TheTalent of Azure Dragon City’s top guild, was currently analyzing the situation with an even more serious face than Rosethorn’s.
“So what if they destroy the puppet king? The Stone Puppets will still keep attacking.” A player behind Fierce Dragon TheTalent remained unconvinced.
“You can’t think of the situation like that. Attacking without a commander is incomparable to one’s abilities when charging forth with a leader,” Fierce Dragon TheTalent smiled. “Observe and draw your conclusions after the battle is done. It will be our Fierce Dragon Gang’s defensive battle next time you witness it.”
“Big Bro, something’s off about that Ice Witch. How about we lure the boss down the mountain to murder her entire guild?” Another one suggested.
“How would you know for certain that something is off about her? If we do that, everyone in Azure Dragon City will mock our guild. This isn’t putting into account that the Ice Rose Alliance is full of pretty girls,” Fierce Dragon TheTalent laughed. “So what if they succeed? Our Fierce Dragon Gang can still destroy them all the same.”
“Viva la mighty boss!”
At this moment, everybody had their eyes on Ice Witch. Jumping off, she spun her body and lightly knocked the wall a few times before effortlessly landing on the ground.
“What great skill!” Fatty praised out loud.
“Was that an ability?” Liu Lan asked skeptically.
“No, that’s a real martial art,” Fatty shook his head. “She must practice martial arts in real life; otherwise, she couldn’t have done that so neatly.”
The moment Ice Witch landed, she became the target of the Stone Puppets. In a blink, over ten stones shrilly whistled as they flew toward her.
Nimbly moving her feet, Ice Witch looked as calm as ever as she dodged the attacks before approaching the puppets in a few steps.
Whoosh. A puppet swatted its hand at the ice swordsman. In front of the three-meter tall puppet, Ice Witch looked like a frail little girl. The image truly aroused people’s pity.
“This is the true ‘Beauty and the Beast’!” Fatty praised.
“The best version of it.” Upon hearing Fatty’s word, a player standing far away quickly turned around to approve with a lewd smile.
Whoosh. Ice Witch bent her body like it was boneless, dodging perilously as the puppet’s hand barely passed above her. At the same time, she tapped her feet and leaped through the gap between two puppets.
“Formidable! Is she planning to behead the leader amidst the thousands of enemies?” Many players exclaimed in shock. They thought that Ice Witch would send someone else to lure out the Stone Puppet King from the gang, but unexpectedly, she chose to force her way in.
“Too awesome. I never knew that Ice Witch was this strong.” Liu Lan’s tone was full of admiration.
Whoosh, whoosh. With nimble shifts of her body, Ice Switch moved like a breeze between the puppets, always moving before the monsters’ attacks could hit her until she approached their king at the very center.
“Graaawwh!” The Stone Puppet King let out a booming roar. It had felt serious humiliation upon seeing Ice Witch succeed in penetrating through his subjects. The boss speedily walked forth, and its body started to radiate yellow light. Then, a massive mace appeared in its hand.
The wind shrieked as the mace smashed down with a violent gale left in its wake. Ice Witch hastily retreated. She lightly hit a nearby puppet’s leg to change directions.
Clang! Ice Witch unsheathed her longsword and parried the mace. With a crisp sound, the sword surprisingly chipped off a chunk from the mace.
“What kind of weapon is that?” Everyone was shocked.
“A half-Celestial weapon is indeed formidable,” Fierce Dragon TheTalent praised.
“Half-Celestial?” The players behind him were stunned, “Why is it called half-Celestial?”
“Ice Witch got the sword when she underwent her hidden class enhancement. It was originally a Celestial weapon, but the rank dropped because it was damaged. Nevertheless, it’s still better than Violet anyway, so I call it half-Celestial.”
“I wonder if that sword is the same as my Elemental Sword,” Fatty took out his Elemental Sword and gazed at it for a while. “I think my sword is weaker than hers for at the moment, though.”
Whoosh. When the longsword parried the mace, a chilling air abruptly gushed out and froze the Puppet King in the blink of an eye.
“Frozen Strike,” Ice Witch whispered. The moment her enemy was frozen, she lashed out again, and a red number rose up from the boss’s head. Withdrawing her sword and moving back to evade another puppet’s attack, Ice Witch leaped onto an additional puppet’s shoulder and struck out, “Ice Soul Cleave!”
Crackle… The ice block created by Frozen Strike cracked into pieces. Freed from the ice, the Stone Puppet King opened its mouth, about to shout. However, Ice Witch immediately followed up with Ice Soul Cleave.
Kaahh… A crack was cleaved out of the boss’s body, and a frightening number popped up. Ice Witch retreated right away after her strike was successful. She staggered a bit before stopping far away. Holding onto the longsword, she gasped as she caught her breath.
“Rawwwwrr!” The puppet king was thoroughly enraged now. The yellow glow around its body revealed some trace of golden light. It smashed the mace on the ground, shaking the area in a several dozen meter radius around it. Ice Witch’s body suddenly turned stiff, a “dizzy” symbol emerging above her head.
“Not good! Hurry and rescue the guild master!” Team Ice was already near the puppets, but they had only been observing from afar, not daring to get too close. At the moment, seeing Ice Witch being afflicted with dizziness, they knew it was trouble. The team rushed forth madly to save her.
BANG. The Stone Puppet King stomped a foot with a force so violent that it flung up stone-like objects off the ground. With the boss as the epicenter, airwaves spread out, and a series of damage indicators instantly popped up from Ice Witch’s head.
