The rest of wave six was more or less a repeat of the previous waves. It took a while until the dwarves were decimated and retreated back into the mines.
As everyone on top of the walls relaxed, they saw a few figures tentatively approaching through the battlefield. It was Liam's group of four who made it out alive. When they got closer to the wall they were welcomed with cheers and jests by the other guild members which gave them a feeling of coming home after braving danger.
The guild was not given much time to celebrate. They soon went back to work. The wall had taken much more damage than in any other wave and it was of vital importance to repair it before new enemies arrived.
Half an hour passed and the time for the seventh wave approached. Cyclone noticed how many of the players showed first signs of fatigue after toiling for a couple of hours with almost no break.
"Everyone! We have already made it hallway through! Every single wave gets us closer to success! Please, continue your good work! Dream Avenue's success relies on all of us!"
"Haha, don't worry guild leader, we won't give up now!"
"Exactly, we all want the guild to succeed!"
"Dream Avenue will be our home from now on. We will all flourish together!"
Cyclone smiled listening to the players' high-spirited words. She noticed how the territory war was a good way to forge cohesion among the new and old members. Only when they worked together closely could the guild succeed.
The atmosphere was great as the seventh wave officially began. The lead was again taken by mist dwarves mounted on lizards. Yet this time there were even some riding on elite monsters, making them even more durable meat shields. As soon as they got in range, attacks kept striking their bodies, but the moving wall was only marginally slowed down.
After a while they reached the wall and started to chip away at the defensive structure. Dream Avenue didn't hesitate to pour hot pitch on them, dealing damage and buying time.
And time seemed more important than ever as another division of mounted dwarves arrived not much later. Cyclone watched as they emerged from the mines, squinting her eyes.
"What is that thing in the centre?"
"Hm?"
Attracted by Cyclone's question Balm also looked towards the mines. She spotted a strange construct which could hardly be made out between the lizard bodies. I had a long form, made from wood and covered in metal. It moved extremely slowly and was escorted by a bunch of lizards.
[Bleary Mirage: Careful, everyone! The enemies are coming with a battering ram! Focus it with fire damage! And try to take out the orcs carrying it if you have a chance to do so!]
"Battering ram?!"
Instantly Cyclone and Balm shouted at each other in shock before trying to get another look. As one of the lizards moving in front swayed to the side everyone was able to recognize the object. They saw through a few holes in the front that inside the wooden structure a few burly, grey-skinned orcs were pushing the heavy siege weapon.
A thick pillar extended from the battering ram, ending in a wooden head decorated with solid horns. Everyone dreaded the damage the weapon could deal should it reach the walls.
Just then a whistling sound could be heard over the battlefield. A large, heavy bolt shot through the air. With insane precision it shot through a hole into the battering ram, perfectly hitting the frontmost orc in the chest.
[-7000!]
The battering ram stopped for a moment as the orc's eyes bulged. But unfortunately the damage was not enough to take it down.
The people standing on the tower all revealed expression of disbelief, staring at Liam controlling the ballista.
"That was insane Mirage!"
"Impossible!"
Listening to the voices from all around Mirage couldn't help but grin. Even he considered this shot at such a distance incredible. He didn't know if he would be able to replicate it. However, there was no time to waste, and Mirage urged everyone to focus on the enemies while he reloaded the ballista.
The fight continued until the battering ram came into the army's attack range. The two ballistae kept firing at the siege weapon but so far no one managed to hit the orcs again. A few large bolts could be seen sticking out of the battering ram's armor, but a quick check revealed that the damage was not too serious.
[Battering Ram
Level: 30
HP: 95.400/100.000]
But now it was time for the players to show their might. Flamming arrows and fire spells fell on the battering ram, causing comparatively more damage. With so many attacks arriving a few also luckily slipped through and fell on the orcs. The one hit by Liam earlier was soon out of HP.
As the orc fell, the battering ram's speed noticeably decreased. However, this was not enough to make up for the lack of attacks. Since the players almost entirely had to use skills in order to deal fire damage they now suffered from the cooldown. The rate at which they dealt damage plummeted and the siege weapon had barely lost 15.000HP.
A tug of war started. Liam and Code Red attempted to take out as many orcs as possible with their ballistae. But while they found some success as the siege weapon came closer, the escorting lizard riders also did their best to block the terrifying bolts even at the cost of their lives.
Silent Acacia, who was on the same tower as Liam murmured while watching the scene:
"Damn, how can they be so fearless? Quite terrifying…"
Liam was just busying himself with reloading the ballista when he coincidentally overheard his friend. He casually provided an explanation:
"Of course they are fearless of death. They can't die after all."
"Really? Are mist dwarves some kind of undead?", asked Silent Acacia, suddenly feeling that it all made much more sense.
"You can say so. Mist dwarves are fused with the mist. However, killing and reviving them will push the mist back which basically weakens their race as a whole. But if they drag new victims into the mist and turn them into one of their own, the mist strengthens. That's why they fearlessly attack the town."
Silent Acacia nodded. He accepted the explanation not asking more question about the lore of their enemies. He would rather fire a few more arrows instead.
Their conversation was just a small scene in the raging war. Everyone's attention remained mostly on the battering ram, trying to take it down.
Unfortunately, the siege weapon proved incredibly sturdy. When it got too close to the wall it left the range of the ballistae as those couldn't aim downwards. At this point it had less than 30.000HP remaining. Liam quickly estimated the potential damage it could do to the walls and decided not to use one of Lekraxc' spells on it.
Half a minute later the battering ram had made it through the crowd of lizards besieging the wall. The orcs inside rejoiced. After suffering a passive beating for so long it was finally time to show their might.
The remaining orcs tightly grabbed the pillar and took a few steps backwards, digging their heels deep into the ground. A moment later they let out a roar and rammed the wooden head against the wall.
Boom!
A dull sound spread as the wall trembled from the impact. The outer layer was crushed to dust leaving a deep imprint. This segment of the wall took 300.000 points of damage just from a single attack, terrifying all the defenders.
For a moment most attacks were concentrated on the battering ram. It suffered heavy damage, but it still remained standing. It was a pity that the flames from the searing pitch had already died down or the battering ram might have been destroyed by now.
The siege weapon got off another attack before it finally fell apart under a shower of fire skills.
As the battering ram attracted attention, a new group of enemies had appeared on the battlefield. It was once again a row of priests willing to exchange spells with the guild. This time Cyclone didn't hesitate to unleash Lekraxc' skill. Giant water fists pounded the dwarven priests, bringing down their numbers before the army took care of the rest.
Eventually only the lizard riders remained. They kept attacking the wall while the army struck them from above. After a while the few remaining enemies began to escape, and the seventh wave ended.
Everyone felt great relief. They still dreaded the battering ram. They could handle one of those but if the dwarves brought out more siege weapons the situation might become ugly.
The guild's leadership came to a similar conclusion as they summarized the battle so far. They calculated that the wall had taken about 2,2 million points of damage in its entirety, which was more than could be repaired before the next wave started.
Most of it came from the lizard riders as the battering ram only attacked the wall for a short time. But it was not difficult to predict what would happen if the enemies brought out more siege weapons.