After Zeuerch devoured the players glued to the wall, he glanced at the rest of the army, causing them to immediately retreat in horror. Sadly, a special guild member like Zeuerch could only act within the rules of his skill. As long as no one got stuck in his web he couldn't attack them. Thus, he didn't stick around any longer and instead rushed back towards the locust swarm, where a large meal was still waiting for him.
"Woah, that was scary."
"What do we do now? Our path is blocked."
"Should we attack from the north? Or reinforce the army in the south?"
The players were puzzled as they faced this situation.
Even Shorty, observing from the distance, wore a deep frown. It was again thanks to limited intelligence that his plan didn't work out. Why did it seem as if Dream Avenue always had a perfect counter prepared for his moves? Or rather, why did Dream Avenue have so many trump cards in the first place? Were NPCs so easy to recruit nowadays?
Shorty didn't know what Galaxy had done to recruit this locust monster into their guild, but he was certain that even finding a suitable NPC for recruitment wasted a lot of time. And in order to recruit a strong NPC they also had to complete a lengthy and difficult quest. His own guild The Only Way for example only had one alchemist NPC and two others suitable for combat. Yet Silken and Therva were already quite satisfied.
Galaxy had also revealed the locust and Sunny Death already, both incredibly powerful. Additionally, Shorty knew that they had at least one more NPC, a warrior with defensive skills which couldn't play much of a role in this territory war. And yet according to the information gathered by Galaxy, Dream Avenue had at least three more NPCs, an alchemist, a blacksmith, and an architect, on top of the two they had revealed during this war.
Shorty felt that the deck was stacked against him, but he adjusted his emotions and contemplated his next step. The locust swarm was not entirely useless. In the east they created a lot of trouble and their players managed to kill more than 600 defenders, which was a net profit. Simultaneously the mercenaries in the south continued to attack the wall.
All in all, the standings didn't look too bad for Galaxy. They were at 2412/5000 and 3981/10.000 points respectively. Although it looked as if Dream Avenue was in the lead, if Galaxy could conquer a few cores the situation would change drastically.
Considering all nuances, Shorty finally came to a decision. The southern wall only needed a final push before it would break. One concentrated charge and their alliance could invade Greypine Town, pushing forward to conquer the cores!
Callida in the meantime observed the ongoing fight around Greypine Town. In the west a group of players didn't know what to do, seemingly without orders. In the east the 400 players had been taken out but only after suffering heavy casualties. The locust swarm had played a huge role and had now been reduced to a few scattered groups which didn't pose a substantial threat anymore.
And in the south the mercenaries were also weakening. The battering rams had all been destroyed and only two catapults remained. Yet about three thousand soldiers were left, most likely enough to create a breach in the wall.
Callida was also aware that the south was their biggest weakness right now. She relayed some orders, pointing most of their defensive efforts towards the south. Although this left the other three directions vulnerable, Callida was confident that Galaxy had played all their trump cards by now. If they tried to attack from any other side the walls should be able to hold Galaxy off until Dream Avenue could react.
A few more minutes passed, and the dead players gradually revived. Dream Avenue's alliance only had a few players who had already used up their two revives. Callida made sure to position the players in a way where they wouldn't die more than once. Players who died thrice in the territory challenge would lose one of their permanent lives. This caused a phenomenon where players who already had two deaths would fight carefully, perhaps even retreat when the situation didn't look good.
Shorty knew about this as well. He had also attempted to arrange his players in a way where no one would have to die twice. This was also the reason why he had never sent all three thousand players at once. As an attacker they were always in the disadvantageous position. Even if he sent three thousand players, they would at most be able to kill two thousand players of the defending alliance, which would place them in a massive disadvantage.
But now the situation was different. All preparations were done. It might look like Shorty had treated the mercenary army as cannon fodder and bait, but in reality, it had always been one of the possible plans in his mind that the mercenary army might manage to deal enough damage to the walls to warrant a frontal assault from the south. And now that time had indeed come.
[Shorty: Everyone get ready! We will invade from the south! We will break through the wall and advance straight to the southern core!]
"Nice! Finally!"
"Let's go! To arms!"
"Show those Dream Avenue losers what a real guild looks like!"
The excitement was palpable. For the players this war was incredibly stifling. They needed to follow careful strategies, which basically ended in failure all the time. Only the attack together with the locust swarm was a small success but this was not due to the strength of the players.
However, now it was finally time for a frontal assault. They could measure their own strength against Dream Avenue. This was exactly what these players were waiting for.
Galaxy's players were long since dissatisfied being constantly compared to Dream Avenue. Everyone had their pride. Galaxy had bought up many established e-sport clubs and hired veteran players. Everyone thought with this line-up they would dominate the server. But Dream Avenue's name was always buzzing in their ears like an annoying fly.
Although Dream Avenue had many renowned players as well, a big part of the guild were unknown newcomers recruited after showing some talent or getting their hands on a rare class. For the established pros it was quite humiliating that they were beaten in multiple dungeon runs, fights for unique quests, and even some contests for world bosses.
Somehow Dream Avenue always seemed extremely well informed. Even without hotpot they often managed to snatch advantages right in front of everyone's noses. Whenever Dream Avenue contested a boss other guilds often felt helpless as Dream Avenue always figured out the skills extremely quickly. The only major victory Galaxy had over Dream Avenue was that they advanced further in the federation tournament.
However, Galaxy's members were still confident. Now they would face Dream Avenue in a direct confrontation. It was their chance to prove their superior skills. And the same was true for the players of TwinThieves and The Only Way. They were eager for revenge because of the last guild war and the previous struggle over a world boss.
Shorty saw that everyone was rearing to go. He glanced at the guild leaders and didn't see anyone rejecting.
"Ready? Let's go!"
Shorty communicated with C and immediately all two thousand six hundred players were transported away. Silence fell on the mountain.
The guild alliance appeared in the mist. A green light shone above them, announcing their arrival. The players let out encouraging war cries, raring to go. Shorty knew he couldn't hold them back any longer. He made sure they got into formation before he gave the order to march.
"Haha! Here we go!"
"Dream Avenue! Are you afraid already?"
"Nest of Flames, Force of Nature, you will regret having agreed to an alliance with that upstart guild!"
Boisterous laughter could be heard from a long distance away. There was no need to tell anyone to keep quiet. Such a large movement couldn't be hidden anyways. After half a minute the alliance left the mist, staring at Dream Avenue across the battlefield. Even from a distance they could see the shock on their enemies' faces, bringing them great satisfaction.
"Charge!"
"For Galaxy!"
"TwinThieves!"
"The Only Way!"
Shorty gave the order and finally everyone rushed towards the town. Seated on their mounts they advanced fast and fierce, the drumming footsteps creating a mounting pressure. In no time at all the players had caught up to the two thousand mercenaries which were left, forming a terrifying army.
Yet this was not enough for Shorty. To the surprise of the guild leaders riding next to him the strategist pulled out a spell scroll no one had seen before.
Shorty grinned. He had always been of the opinion that a real trump card should only be known to one person. Although it pained him somewhat to use his own precious scrolls, but he would make sure to get sufficient remuneration from Dream Avenue after using his valuable resources for their war.