Phoenix Feather was quite frustrated as she rained down flames on the enemies. While she could reach the mercenaries and the battering rams, the catapults stayed out of her range. The other mages also noticed the predicament. Cyclone was equally annoyed. If they had more time and money to invest in the wall, it would provide a stronger buff to the range of mages, and they would be able to hit the catapults.
But with things as they were now, Cyclone only had one option. After a brief consultation with her fellow guild leaders, she retrieved a tattered, red spell scroll from her inventory.
With the appearance of the scroll, the temperature in the surroundings rose quickly. Drops of sweat ran down Cyclone's neck. She didn't delay and unfurled the scroll, activating it with a thought.
Dream Avenue's players peeked out of from behind the battlements and were greeted with a phenomenon they were still familiar with from the last territory war. Unbearable heat covered the battlefield. The sky cleared up and the sun broke through the clouds. Multiple magic circles appeared in the air raining down flames on the enemies.
However, just as the siege weapons received a bit of damage, a voice spread through the battlefield:
"Oh, Norm, great god of order! Your devout believer calls upon you. Please ban this destructive magic!"
A sacred light began to spread from within the mist in the south. It reached from the mist all the way towards the town, affecting the fight between Dream Avenue and the mercenaries. Wherever it passed the mana calmed down. It moved in orderly, natural patterns and refused to fuel any magic attacks. Without mana the magic circles in the sky stopped working and gradually dissipated.
[Cyclone: What's that?! We need to do something! I can't cast!]
[Fortune: The mana can't be controlled. What a terrible feeling!]
[Bleary Mirage: It must be one of Galaxy's special members. There is not much we can do.]
[Cyclone: No, no! If the mages can't fight, we need to send warriors!]
[Callida: We need our warriors on the other side.]
[Phoenix Feather: What about switching places?]
[Silent Acacia: We can also hire mercenaries, can't we?]
Callida and Liam noticed the frown on each other's faces. This move by Galaxy was quite vicious. As defenders hiring mercenaries was more expensive than it was for the attackers. It was almost a waste of money. And their warriors were needed on the northern site in anticipation of an attack. Now it also made sense why the mercenaries hired by Galaxy had no mages among them.
In the end they didn't come up with a satisfying solution. Liam knew that the magic ban wouldn't last for more than ten seconds. Dream Avenue's players could only hide for the duration. The catapults were the only ones who continued to fire on both sides. The town wall took a lot of damage which Dream Avenue was forced to repair by spending five hundred gold as well as multiple tons of wood and stone, blowing a frightening dent in their budget.
Eventually the light receded, and the mana could be controlled again. During those ten seconds the mercenaries had advanced swiftly and were not only a dozen metres from the walls. Suddenly they felt something. Their eyes turned towards the sky where another magic circle had appeared. They braced themselves just in time as a massive fist formed from dense, surging mana erupted from the magic circle and punched the army of mercenaries.
"Ah!"
"Get away!"
"What is this magic?!"
The mercenaries were shocked as they felt the trembling ground below their feet. When the fist receded, no one was left standing where it had landed. About twenty mercenaries lost their lives and even a catapult was destroyed. And yet this wasn't the end of it as the water fist attacked two more times before the spell finally ended.
Cyclone inwardly thanked Lekraxc as she observed the results of the troll shaman's attack. It was most important that two catapults had been destroyed. They caused too much trouble for Dream Avenue. Additionally, another one of the siege weapons was close to falling apart as it had been bombarded by Dream Avenue's own siege weapons.
However, despite this success there was something which worried Cyclone greatly. She glanced at the two progress bars floating in her vision. They showed the points earned by the two guilds.
Currently Dream Avenue had 361 out of the 5.000 points necessary for victory. Galaxy one the other hand was at 692 points out of 10.000. It might seem quite unfair for the attackers to need double the number of points but the reason for this was that conquering a single core rewarded 1.000 points. It could be seen that the focus of the territory challenge was more about the cores than about simply killing each other.
Of course, Galaxy also knew this, which was why they had more strategies prepared than simply sending the mercenaries towards the walls. One of the few mages stationed on the northern side of the town suddenly noticed something.
"Look. The mist is moving!"
"Your right! Quickly, report to Callida!"
"Haha, no need! We have been waiting for this! Open the gate!"
Earthquake's boisterous voice came from behind the two mages. Excitement burned in his eyes as he could finally take action. On his command the gates were opened while the guild leader ran down the stairs and gathered with his fellow warriors.
"Let's go! It's time to show them why warriors are the best!"
"Haha!"
"Finally! Let's destroy them!"
"Whoever kills the least has to pay a round later!"
The warriors roared, sharing Earthquake's excitement. The guild leader summoned his mount, an elephant-like beast with menacing tusks. Despite its tall body it was surprisingly fast, powerful enough to break through enemies with the power of an unstoppable train.
Earthquake nodded at Immortal Boulder next to him before shooting out of the gate. The warriors followed him and formed a long line outside, ready to intercept their enemies.
"Wow, that's disgusting!"
"Squash those insects!"
In no time at all the warriors were facing their enemies. It was a group consisting of two parts. One was a bunch of thieves on their mounts. Judging from the speed they were moving at they must have received some kind of buff. The other part of the group were monsters looking like tall, bipedal locusts with sharp blades on their arms. Their flickering wings were a blur, giving them a sped difficult to match for the players.
"Readyyy!"
Just as Earthquake was coordinating his warriors, the locust travelling at the front of the group flashed. In the blink of an eye, it appeared in front of Earthquake, its sharp blade almost at his neck. The warrior reacted completely on instinct. He waved his great sword in an arc, slamming it into the locust's flank. This was no normal attack, however. Instead, it was a skill. A mysterious force travelled through the great sword into the locust's body. The insect was launched away for multiple meters, barely able to stabilize its body.
[-5221!]
Earthquake was quite satisfied with his damage. He was at level 48, three levels above the insects, and had already advanced to a tier 2 character. As more and more players did so, the secret couldn't really be considered a secret anymore. It was only a matter of time until the topic of tier 2 characters would hit the public.
When he suddenly advanced a while back, Earthquake was feeling quite smug. However, Callida's analysis brought him back to reality. His wife was sure that others must have discovered tier 2 characters a while ago. Perhaps Bleary Mirage had even been at tier 2 during the tournament.
Earthquake was quite annoyed. He didn't think he was weaker than anyone else. Thus, when Dream Avenue asked for an alliance, he proposed the condition of duelling Quickstep and Bleary Mirage. To his surprise Callida was very supportive of that.
He only understood later that his wife hoped that he might discover more secrets by fighting those two. But if he was to learn from Bleary Mirage and Quickstep, wasn't this basically admitting that he was weaker than them? Earthquake felt annoyed again. Thus, he was extremely eager to prove his strength during this war, urging his warriors once more:
"Attack! Show them what you got! Whoever lets even a single enemy through, I will deal with them personally!"
However, not everyone was able to deal with the instantaneous movement of the locust like Earthquake did. When the insects suddenly appeared in front of the players, many panicked or tried to dodge only to be hit by the fast-moving blades.
"What are you doing?! Attack! Deal damage! Ignore dodging, let the healers do their jobs!"
Earthquake shouted at his warriors while his mount rushed forward, slamming its head into another locust. The sharp tusks pierced the carapace, reducing the insect's resistance. Earthquake delivered a blow from above, smashing the insect's head in.
[-6237!]
The locust slipped from the mount's tusks and stopped moving.