After a short respite the mist dwarves had recollected and marched for the eighth time. The attack was similar to the seventh wave. Lizard riders made up the start, pushing towards the wall. At this point those with great perception could notice that the defenders' damage per second gradually got lower as they took more casualties.
The enemies had it increasingly easier to reach the wall. Only the hot pitch could hold them off for a while, taking out many of the lizards.
But the remaining soldiers still fired bravely, motivated to protect their home. After the first group of enemies, it didn't take long for another to arrive. This time the mist dwarves didn't spare any costs and fielded a squad of five battering rams. The guild members had their eyes pop out.
"Five?! This time the walls will suffer…"
"Perhaps our melee fighters should go out and attack. We can target the orcs carrying the rams."
"Not a bad idea!"
"But what about the lizard riders? They won't let us through."
"Perhaps we can use some trump card against them?"
As discussions spread among the players many eyes fell on the guild leaders. And it didn't take long for an order to come through.
[Bleary Mirage: Focus on the leftmost and rightmost rams! Ignore the others!]
Everyone acknowledged the command. Immediately a change in the attack patterns could be observed. As the fight raged on it didn't take long for the battering rams to get close to the walls, especially the three middle ones.
As the battering rams didn't come alone but had their own escort, a large crowd of enemies clumped towards the centre of the wall almost preventing each other from moving forward.
[Bleary Mirage: It's time!]
[Cyclone: Got it!]
As Liam sufficiently reminded his friends over the last few days, Dream Avenue naturally had made many preparations for the territory war. They generously bought useful items, especially scrolls. Now it was time for Cyclone to use two of those.
The blond mage began to unfurl an orange scroll in pristine condition. A magic circle was depicted on it, resembling a bright sun. As the scroll activated a bright light suddenly appeared in the sky. The temperature rose, the mist was suppressed and the sky cleared up. But most important of it all, fire damage was strengthened greatly.
Next Cyclone revealed a tattered red scroll and activated it. Massive magic circles appeared in the sky. The temperature rose even further, turning the world into hell. Burning rain began to fall out of the magic circles, affecting a large area including three battering rams.
There was not much surprise. Under the combination of two spell scrolls everything in the affected area burned to ashes. Furthermore, the boost to fire damage also assisted the defenders in dealing with the other two rams. Both of them only managed to hit the wall once before they were turned into large bonfires.
"Awesome!"
"As expected of our leader! Everything under control as always!"
"Yeah, it's nice and all but a cold breeze would be awesome now. I'm dying from excessive sweating here."
The players were light-hearted as a lot of the pressure disappeared thanks to the usage of scrolls. However, this didn't last for too long as new enemies came out of the mines, including mist dwarf assassins, tanks, and priests. This time in frightening numbers.
Cyclone did not hesitate at all to barrage them with giant water fists to thin out their ranks. But the dwarves were fearless, matching towards the wall as one unit. A few commanders stood out wearing more impressive equipment and keeping the army's cohesion.
Soon the newcomers came in attack range. Spears, arrows, and spells came down on them, but the orderly army showed great disciple. The tanks raised their shields, blocking the attacks from the skies. Everyone was surprised by their coordination.
On Liam's order the players attempted to snipe the enemy commanders to some success. Wherever the commanders died it became easier to kill the priests as the tanks were late to block attacks.
However, as the coordinated army advanced, they still made it close to the wall in relative safety. The priests began unleashing their own spells while the assassins turned into blurs and rushed towards the wall.
The defenders had to split their attention. Small teams held the assassins climbing the walls back while suffering from the priests' attacks. Healers everywhere used their spells generously to fight against the damage. Tanks offered their bodies as shields, making use of their high HP.
And yet casualties started to appear like never before. The NPCs suffered the most, but Dream Avenue also didn't come out unscathed. Some players suffered their second death, pushing them close to being kicked from the war.
It was a stressful situation which only became bearable when a significant number of enemies had died. The mist dwarves offered a huge amount of EXP leading to improvements across the board.
Liam, Quickstep, and Fortune were the first players to reach level 46, which firmly put them at the top of the ranking list, amazing the global chat once again.
The intense fight lasted for more than half an hour until the situation calmed down. When the dwarves retreated only devastation remained.
Exhaustion could be seen on many faces. For the defenders this was the most difficult wave so far. The total death count among the NPCs reached a staggering 600 people, with 400 of them being soldiers, meaning there were now only 3600 left.
But Dream Avenue also suffered. 150 players lost their lives with 30 of them forced to use up their second revive.
A solemn mood spread among the army. Cyclone and Balm did their best to motivate the players, hinting at the powerful trump cards they still had. This was indeed helpful as the players vividly remembered the two scrolls earlier. Their might turned the battering rams to ashes. Due to that the wall took only a small amount of damage and they could now easily repair it back to full health.
Everyone went to work, and the break quickly passed. It was time for the ninth wave. Soldiers stared towards the dark mine entrance with sweaty hands. All that could be heard was their uniform breath. The seconds ticked by with no enemies in sight.
Some players began joking around to suppress their nervousness. But they didn't dare to be too loud this time, afraid of jinxing something again.
Suddenly vibrations began to spread through the ground. They reached the wall, causing it to move faintly. The defenders could see low waves in the cauldrons containing the hot pitch. Everyone felt a bad premonition.
The vibrations grew stronger and a new noise mixed in. Booming sound echoed from the mines. Dust could be seen floating out of the dark maw.
The noises grew louder and finally the situation changed. Suddenly the mine entrance broke apart. Rocks were launched in all directions. A huge body of at least twenty meters, eye-level with the defensive wall, broke out of the mines.
It was a tall being with dark-green skin, covered in horns. It had a protruding belly, and a thick layer of fat protected its skeleton. Its round head was bald with small eyes which made one wonder if it could even see anything. In its right hand it waved a thick metal beam which looked as if it was ripped out of some structure. With each step of its elephant-like feet the ground shook and drops of viscous liquid fell from its body, sizzling as it hit the ground.
The defending army collectively fell silent as they stared at the terrible new foe. Studying the red dome surrounding the fat creature they realized that it had to be a boss and not more than five players were allowed to attack it at the same time.
Immediately the core members began to discuss in the chat, asking for Liam's plan. After a few seconds an order came through.
[Bleary Mirage: Silver Blade, Cyclone, Fortune, Balm, Settler! Go!]
Somewhere on the wall within a group of mages stood a man in an icy-blue robe. He had short black hair and a youthful face. When Liam's message appeared in the guild chat it took him a moment to react. His expression turned to one of surprise and disbelief.
[Settler: Me?!]
[Bleary Mirage: Hurry up! The boss is weak against slows and stuns! Go!]
Glorious Hotpot stood not far from Settler. The two had been in the same team a few times, becoming friends. She looked turned towards the mage, jealous and happy at the same time.
"Settler! Mirage personally named you! Go, go. And don't f*ck this up!"
A few of the surrounding players also shouted jokes and encouragements. Settler finally came to terms with the situation. He answered with a quick thank you and hurried down the wall.
Meanwhile the four members of Hotpot summoned their mounts and heroically jumped off the wall with their [Flying Dash].
Settler arrived at the bottom of the wall. He also had a basilisk as a mount but since it was only of legendary rank it didn't know [Flying Dash]. Thus, the mage had to hurry after the rest of the team.