Silver Blade stood amidst the area focused by the enemies' attacks. Looking at the sky darkened by a huge number of spells she couldn't help but feel some awe. Yet this didn't stop her from doing her job. Activating [Aura of Ranged Protection] Silver Blade positioned herself in a way that would shield at least two archers.
A moment later the attacks already arrived. They hit the wall like a shower of black rain, each drop containing a devastating power.
[-13!]x5
Due to the gulf between their levels and aided by various buffs the damage Silver Blade took was negligible. However, unleashing somewhere around eight hundred attacks the dwarves naturally caused quite some chaos. The first few low-level guild members went down as they didn't receive shields in time.
[Bleary Mirage: Come on, guys! Focus! Where are our tanks?! And you over there, keep attacking! Don't sit and watch!]
Liam was quite displeased with the players' performance. In his mind the casualties would have been entirely preventable had the tanks focused on protecting those lower levelled members.
At the same time some people were so shocked by the attack that they forgot to retaliate, buying the enemies a few important seconds. Only with Liam's angry scolding did they wake up.
Fortune watched everything that happened from the central tower. A few attacks came her way, but those were unable to reach the top of the tower. Watching the miserable soldiers she gritted her teeth. Although it was just a game she couldn't help but develop some hatred towards the enemies.
Staring at the mist dwarves Fortune decided to make use of some of the less prominent parts of her kit. She began casting her ultimate skill [Conduit of Magic]. The skill allowed her to choose between three different versions. Usually, Fortune opted for the massive arms made of mana but now she switched to an AOE-heavy attack.
Waving her staff Fortune gathered mana, casting the skill. A few seconds passed as both sides exchanged attacks. The defending army remained mostly stable although they had some casualties among the NPCs.
Soon, Fortune's cast was completed. Yet she didn't stop. Her passive granted her the ability to prolong a cast to do more damage, which she now put to use. Fortune continued, almost doubling her cast time until her body felt bloated and her mind grew tired. Finally, she decided to unleash her skill.
Fortune pointed at the enemies and ripples erupted from her staff, travelling in a cone shape. Although the ripples were invisible, everyone could clearly see the very air distort like the air above a street on a hot summer day.
The cone-shaped skill increased in width as it travelled. When it finally reached the enemies, almost two hundred of them were affected. The tanks were still somewhat alright, but the mages began to fall like flies. Fortune's skill dealt up to 6500 points of damage, overwhelming the already injured dwarves.
Even on the chaotic battlefield this scene caught everyone's attention. Many mages looked towards Fortune in awe.
"Was this really… caused by a player?"
"Who was it that wished their skills could rival that of the troll shaman? Perhaps you should learn more from Fortune!"
"Damn, I knew that Fortune was powerful, but this is too much…"
"I just realized that Fortune is actually the fiercest damage dealer in the guild, right?"
"Tsk. My roommate used to say that Fortune is just a good-looking content creator. I dare him to say that again!"
The players kept discussing. With this single skill Fortune earned herself the respect of the entire guild. Many mages took her as their idol. Everyone felt greatly encouraged watching as the enemies got decimated and unleashed their own attacks.
Fortune's single attack greatly affected the balance of the battle. The tanks immediately had it easier to save others. After another wave of exchanges a few NPCs were downed. Immediately support arrived, dragging them to safety and saving their lives.
The war continued for a while until the number of priests on the dwarves' side shrank to a level where they were unable to threaten the players anymore. At this point the defenders spread their attacks, targeting the dwarves as well as the lizards. Soon, as only a few scattered enemies remained, they decided to retreat.
"Finally, it's over…"
"And this was only wave four."
"However, look at all the EXP! I'm rushing through the levels!"
"You're right. I'm jealous of those below level 20. They get like two levels per wave or so."
Liam granted the players a minute to relax before sending them to work. He knew that for many this wave came as quite a shock. The territory war was on a different level compared to the guild wars. Especially the NPC casualties touched some of the players due to the game's immersiveness.
Granted a short break the players were even more eager when Liam sent them back to work. No one dared to slack off this time. The pitch cauldrons had to be refilled, and the wall had to be repaired. Meanwhile the guild's core members discussed the situation.
[Bleary Mirage: Cyclone, Balm, can you give us a summary?]
[Cyclone: Sure. Let me see… We lost 45 players. All of them still had three revives left, so it's not that bad. But the situation with the NPCs is kinda unsightly. They suffered 130 casualties, eighty of those soldiers and the rest part of the logistics.]
[Bloody Edge: We should honour those fallen brothers.]
[Radiant Shield: Damn, there was no need for these heroes to die. We were too careless.]
[Quickstep: Perhaps. But honestly, I feel like there is not much we could have done.]
[Radiant Shield: I disagree. I will make sure that our tanks react faster to attacks!]
[Bleary Mirage: We'll all thank you if you can do that, Shield. Now what about the damage to the wall, Balm?]
[Balm: All segments took varying amounts of damage. It's somewhere between 30.000 and 100.000. Repairing ten thousand points of damage costs us 0,2 tons of wood and 0,1 tons of stone. Right now, we have stored 76 tons of wood and 52 tons of stone close to the wall. But we are still constantly transporting goods from the town.]
[Bleary Mirage: Good. The NPCs are already working to repair the wall. It shouldn't take them too long. From my estimation the whole repair team can restore 100.000HP in about ten seconds. This means we still have more than enough time. However, during later waves it won't be so easy.]
[Balm: Got it.]
[Silent Acacia: Let's work hard, guys! We can't lose this war!]
[Fortune: Acacia is correct! Too much depends on it!]
After the short discussion the core members encouraged each other for a bit while getting to work. Radiant Shield appeared highly motivated, taking on a job nobody wanted to do. He carried a cauldron full of searing hot pitch up the walls, refilling those already hanging there.
Meanwhile Liam took care of the ballista, arranging new ammunition. He couldn't carry the large bolts alone, needing some help from the logistic team.
The core members set a positive example by actively labouring, motivating the rest of the guild greatly.
Meanwhile a small commotion spread as someone noticed that the ranking lists had changed. The top spot was actually snatched away from Melodious Edelweiss. Now it was Fortune who occupied first place. However, the bard was not far behind, and it remained to be seen who would be able to keep up their performance.
The mood among the guild members was great as they worked hard to distribute resources. Potions, food, and various equipment was handed out, granting important buffs.
Simply the food items alone increased the guild's average damage by five to ten percent over a long time. Potions like Strength Potions for example instead gave a boost of at least 50% damage to whoever took them, but their duration was shorter, making them less relevant in the scenario of the war.
Thus, the alchemists were mostly focused on Revitalization Potions, which restored mana and HP over a longer duration. The amount those restored was between a basic and an intermediate potion. For many of the guild's players this was more than enough, while some, like Fortune and Balm, found it slightly lacking. But luckily the guild had food with a similar effect thanks to Serena.
Adequately supplied the army soon gathered on top of the wall again awaiting the fifth wave. And the dwarves didn't leave them waiting for too long.
The fifth wave didn't differ much from the fourth one. But instead of sending a giant lizard to cause the others to rampage, this wave came with more elite lizards again. They served as meat shields to protect the army of priests which appeared after a while.
A violent ranged battle ensued once more. Cyclone and Fortune showed off their respective trump cards, devastating the enemies with powerful spells. Meanwhile agile mist dwarves took the spells as cover to dash towards the wall. Liam realised that too much focus was on the ranged enemies. He knew they couldn't allow the mist dwarves to scale the walls in great numbers.
Thus, Liam decided to use one of the scrolls they prepared beforehand. A spell similar to Silver Blade's [Aura of the Sloth] affected a large area, slowing the enemies down. The spell bought enough time so Dream Avenue could split their damage and take out most of the mist dwarves before they reached the wall.