Lots of Ants
At this moment, on Kalen's side, all the way back at the rear of the big army of players.
'Hmmm, he and Sylda shouldn't know each other to have already added each other in their friendlist...' With such a thought, Kalen proceeded to close in towards Sylda, that almost young woman with a valiant and deep, pure yet valiant image, and aura surrounding her.
"M-m-miss Sylda?" He tried to act polite but was instead shocked to see that up close, she really looked like her youngest daughter. How can a girl that young be in charge of a soon to be powerhouse in Rising Essence, better yet- New Earth? Though that latter part was only for the future.
"Oh? Ah, it's you." Sylda merely responded with a somewhat 'please don't talk to me, you're related to that madman' yet still somewhat polite gesture.
"Mn, ah sorry haha, you just reminded me of my little girl, ehem. I just received a message from... ah..." As Kalen started to properly speak towards her he encountered a fatherly sensation for this one smart, independent woman. But then, when he wanted to mention 'that madman' he realized, he had no clue to what he was called... ah, indeed.
He didn't realize that the previously weirded out Sylda had turned warmer towards him the moment he uttered words with the meaning of her being the reminder of someone else's dear daughter. Indeed, her face became a little more open towards a conversation while her stance was more proper and receiving, as if she was receiving advice from an adult, role model.
"Well, anyways... I just thought of sharing some information. That man has told me that I'd better not advance until most of the operation has been completed, so as to speak." As Kalen made a pause but seemed to still want to say more, Sylda's voice came out as she said: "Eh? I really don't think that's normal... it's strange."
Naturally, she wasn't being discourteous, merely trying to voice her opinion on that lunatic's way of doing things. After all, her own experience with him was nowhere to what the word 'nice' could ever get close to. Kalen could even sense some kind of, expressed concern for his well being as well as that of his group.
Hence, he didn't feel offended at all as he instead delightedly said: "Aha, well, you see... he asked me to keep my people back so that... he wouldn't accidentally kill them, ha..."
Sylda's eyes then opened quite wide as she though to herself: 'Wait, with that man's might... yup, that's something he's very, VERY capable of if he were to act.'
After thinking so, she immediately put on a gratifying wide smile before cheerfully saying: "Oh, then that's his goodwill towards us, right? Hahaha... wait, that's not right... he doesn't have my- oh! Then, I must thank Senior here for his friendly advice!"
Obviously, she understood that between the two of them, Kalen had more likeliness to have been added as a friend by 'him'- not her. Maybe she wasn't the brightest but she surely wasn't dumb nor naïve. With the feeling of embarrassment starting to surge in his own face, Kalen's wisely decided to spoke a little bit more as he told her: "Yes; though we'll lose most rewards for not having help as much as others, I think is fine if we keep our numbers alive the most. Only that way would it be worth it, after all, this region is full of SP for many to farm, hahaha."
With more or less a timid and obedient manner, Sylda quietly responded: "Mn, mn. Yes, after this, would Senior like to join my g-group? That way, we'll have better chances of not losing anyone and still being able to keep improving."
"Oh, haha, sure..." Kalen's idle chatter kept resounding as Sylda's small voice also became quite consistent in the small area they were stationed at. Slowly, even the members of each side came to mingle with each other as they warmed up towards each other as well.
***
Tongqiu was up in a small hill, sitting with his left knee raised and his head resting upon his left hand that was being supported by his left knee, while his other leg was vulgarly placed in a "/" form.
"Haaah~!"
A sigh full of impatience resounded as Tongqiu's head turned to look towards the sky, his eyes were clearly bored and his face was a long one. He silently thought to himself: 'They've been going at it for an entire hour and still have not managed to make those Star Elite snacks come out! No wonder they're trash!'
Well, he couldn't entirely blame them. After watching them go, kamikaze mode even, he came to the easy conclusion that all those dying dogs were to be paid in thanks for their services. It wasn't that big of a deal if the compensation was good enough for mitigating the lose of a level and a piece of equipment breaking or straight up dropped; but it felt dirty to know about this since it was obvious that those in high positions ordering them were instead benefiting in some way that was much better than them, ah.
Tongqiu didn't know what kind of rewards taking down a Basic Communication Device from the Demon Race, or rather, 'Obelisk'. But if it was enough to let them not care about the hundreds or thousands of people they needed to compensate then it surely couldn't be that bad. Oh well, he just had to wait.
As for the mobs available, he has already taken notice of them and even evaluated them, after all, he could see their entire information anyways:
[Ground Minion-Skeleton]: Type: Monster(Undead), Level: 28, HP:24,000. This minion type of monsters are easy to kill as their defense is non-existent, however, they are immune to some effects while also creating a powerful yet small explosion when dying.
[Collapsing Death]: When this minion monster dies, it slumps onto the ground creating a circular explosion of 1 meter radius. Deals 250 true damage and inflicts all possible mind-related negative effects to those it hits. Duration: 5 minutes.
Immune to darkness, earth elements.
Immune to all mind-related negative effects and Instant Death.
Vulnerable to light, fire and lightning.
[Spike Minion-Skeleton]: Type: Monster(Undead), Level: 29, HP: 17,000. This minion has incredible speed (for its own level) which allows it to reach any place close to it in 300 meters or less, in mere seconds. It carries along its skeletal body, numerous unknown, sharp weapons of all kinds which can be deemed extremely dangerous under some circumstances.
[Spikes Explosion]: When this minion monster dies, the sharp spikes in its body proceed to first, destroy its body completely before being shot at any possible angle. Deals 100 true damage and inflicts bleeding, maimed and despair.
Immune to darkness, earth elements.
Immune to all mind-related negative effects and Instant Death.
Vulnerable to light, fire and lightning.
[Wall Minion-Skeleton]: Type: Monster(Undead), Grade: Lord, Level: 29, HP: 175,000. Though it is a Lord grade BOSS, it is in fact, just a minion. It has no attack and its only usefulness is that of holding a strange object which creates an unexpected magical barrier. They usually remain at the rear to avoid ranged attacks of all kinds from reaching the Basic Communication Device, and only move forwards once their comrades have all died.
Immune to darkness, earth elements.
Immune to all mind-related negative effects and Instant Death.
Vulnerable to light, fire and lightning.
It may seem too little for Tongqiu; for the players fighting against them however, was tiring, bothersome and somewhat a hell of a job. Some of them had already lost 6 to 11 levels just from participating in these 'operations'. It was truly the work of a cannon fodder, and to participate, they even had to level themselves up in the inner or outer area of the Somber Tree region, just to be sent back to the City and had to wait a whole day before entering once again... it was as shitty as shit can get.
The new Somber Tree region can be called a paradise for improving in levels and skills as much as players wanted to call it so, but for the rogue players that were in need of the big shot's 'compensation', it was a gruesome and irritating dirty job to do.
And it wasn't even that worthy, as their 'operations' have failed rather than working. There's been more than 20 tries from these 'Elite' players, where players of even their own groups had grown tired, resentful and even developed hatred, albeit not too much. Still, the pay was good, and their asses weren't truly hurt so they continued.
With blood and tears, they managed to take down only 3 of these 'Obelisks', the reason being these motherfuckers that were just perfectly made to impede any besieging from any side and of any type. It had to be a joke, right? Well it wasn't, and no one really stopped to think that if Demons were really around here, then it was more than obvious they wouldn't just easily let them complete their 'quest' here, but oh well, most people are new to this incredible AI and 'second life' kind of world so it was natural that they were being such pieces of idiotic morons.
The worst is, those skeletons worked just as intended! They never missed, specially the Spike Minion-Skeletons which would even sometimes go in groups of 7 to 13. That alone was enough to make all the players nearby to understand, their pay was about to be sent. And while there were many more Ground Minion-Skeletons like, easily around 15,000 of them while the Spike Minion-Skeletons were that of 2,000-3,000; their number alone was enough for them to charge at the players and do some killing with their basic attacks alone. If that wasn't enough, their special kamikaze skill would make an 'isolation urgently needed' area in but an instant which allowed even more of those Ground Minion-Skeletons to take more territory within the battlefield, slowly taking strategic positions to deal with the players should they somehow managed to advance!
Since they weren't affected by the kind of negative altered effects of that one skill, they could pass through such CC areas as if walking through their backyard as they then, as if ordered by an unknown onlooker, took position and waited orders. Whenever it was time for those in the waiting to take action, players would start falling down once more.
As for those Wall Minion-Skeletons, those fake Lord grade, there was only one way to deal with them which they learned after many, many battles of not even being able to activate them, cough. They would 'stupidly' lay down their shield thingies as they simply went forwards, rolled, lunged at the players with the intention of smashing them to death... gore settings here were turned off as if it was a plague having it on.
But for Tongqiu, those were child games. Spikes that could induce you into some rough CC? He had Combustion! He could easily dissipate such puny tricks. Kamikaze skills that'd inflict all kinds of mind-related negative altered effects? His amazingly vast Mental Power could easily deal with it! As for those wall-like dummies at the foot of the Basic Communication Device? He was sure that he wouldn't even need to wait until he killed the rest of their comrades to deal with them, that Combustion alone was sufficient to break apart those little shitty barriers of theirs. Not because of the damage, but because of the still unknown, mysterious power hidden within Combustion, he more than anything else understood this skill unlike any of the others.
***
Just as Tongqiu was choosing to act now or wait for more bloodshed to be shed, after all, he could wait until they finished the normal mobs and strike when the good stuff came out. Edorn was silently thinking, with a somber, sneaky face as he gazed upon the battlefield ahead. He was, of course, hundreds of meters away from the battlefield.
'That girl... that girl, that- urgh-aggghhh!' Though his eyes were calm, his inner mind was trembling due to embarrassment from before, and his thoughts were filled with viciousness, he so much wanted to find Tongqiu and trick him into submission so that he'd get that beautiful, perfect and powerful bow. That idiot didn't deserved that kind of power, of such divine armament! No, it was all worthy only for him to use. And with his own Hidden Class which only he knew about, he could use any weapon with slightly worse effects but, he was convinced that even then, his use of that divine armament would so easily become greater!
And that girl... so what if he was caught before, in that stupid meeting? Did anyone dared to raise their voice? Pft, they were deeply astounded but even more so, they were completely afraid of their clan! How could they not? Even that Rilu became warm towards him, sending several gifts just after tracing that lecherous tongue of his all over Edorn's boots, all for the sake of connection. That heavily influencing he, his clan, was.
Even then, to his and everyone else's disappointment, to find even information of an existing little girl such as Zyv, was impossible. Utterly, absolutely impossible. There was no way to contact her nor search for her, let alone having some words exchanged...
Whatever the case it was, Edorn couldn't just let everyone do the same all the time. Taking back his focus onto the battlefield ahead... far, far away; he invigoratingly began giving orders: "YOU- it's time to move!! Bring those Guardians there, move it! When I give the signal, you'll charge towards them at full speed and make a front line for our magical Sorcerers, Apprentice Elementalists and Bards to bombard the enemy! If you for some reason fail to do your job, we fail- NO PAY! HEAR ME?!"
"Yes, Mr Edorn!" Deafening responses resounded to his commands.
'Heh, all mine now.' After forming an unnoticeable sly grin, he continued: "Five minutes! After that, Swordsman and Vanguards take role into using your sacrificial lives to allow the ranged classes to get into position, until then... until you all die!! HEAR ME?!"
"YES, MR EDORN!!" An even more shocking warcry was heard, seemingly having been entirely stimulated by Edorn's simple wording... simpletons of a pure pedigree.
"THEN... GUARDIANS, GO!" Edorn's last order was heard, and the thumps of countless feet pulverizing the ground under their feet thundered aloud.
THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP...
Meanwhile, contrary to what those people were emitting and feeling by being the 'soldiers' of this 'incredible' so-called 'war'; another few hundred meters to the side were a few dozens of people watching with either their arms crossed or sitting down in boredom, as they made idle chatter in derision or unneeded disdain.
***
THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP...
Whoosh~ Whoosh~
Accompanying the incessant, thunderous stomps on the ground which left that of horses from medieval, ancient, very ancient times put into utter shame, was an actually audible sharp whistling of wind and rustle of their clothes from how fast and very well disciplined were all those players charging at the Skeletal Army up ahead.
Amidst their frightening 'charging into the battle' time, some players -well skilled- had the time to play around by turning their heads and talking to their comrades... which was very dangerous and should never be done when in real life, but who cared about such a death in Rising Essence? At most, it'll be a fun subject to talk about for a little while, and also flirt with some chicks. Who knows, even copping a feel wasn't that off the charts! Without a lightning strike, of course.
Well, that was thought so but for the early success of Rising Essence, this should probably change in the future.
Probably.
Then, their time to put on a humane -well, of a couple more races too- barricade came as they all raised their shields, extended arm guards, maces, one-handed swords of all types while some even had small crossbows attached to their forearms. Ready, expectant to be of use and have some 'little' gains just by dying, too.
It was abrupt.
CRASH! CLANKCLANK-THUDDUMP-!!!
As it happened, Tongqiu let go of his vulgar sitting down at the small hill as he so 'patiently' witnessed all of the happenings in this battlefield unfold, he then stood up in a quick set of motions where he made a shaky roll at the end- just to end up in his feet right after the roll before commencing a brutal, forcing of his feet stomping down on the shaky, soft ground... with the intention to jump off the hill and, well, do what Tongqiu does best!
At the same time, in the collision between the 'Journeyer' army and the Skeleton army, there was a sudden stalemate right after the initial unavoidable death numbers rising up -from the players' side-; to which a few hundred of magical classes were already positioned from behind them. Thanks to the Bards' skills boosting their movement speed, they could wait for the small army consisting of slow-turtle Guardians at full speed to take some serious head start before starting to move along in another few small-armies, consisting of magical -type classes.
They would've used Shamans and some Summoners but, they are just way too slow that even with all buffing and the like, they'd only be slightly faster than Guardians yet much lower than the rest of the magical classes employed in for this dynamic strategy.
Even with the Bards' buffing, Sorcerers had already made a enormous pentagram, magic circle- whatever they could come up to, with the characteristics of making one's body nimbler and allowing them to increase speed when going as a group, just as an extra.
With all this preparation, it was easy for them to get to their desired position at perfect timing, they just needed great calculations and that was it.
Now, it was the time for the Sorcerers and Apprentice Elementalist to exhaust their MP as if there was no tomorrow while trying to forget the possibility of their humane barricade faltering and dying in the process with another defeat being formed in within their hearts, creating an even darker gloom from their exploitation. This was so, even for players affiliated with the big shots' groups, let alone the previously mentioned rogue players...
...
