NOVEL NEXT Chapter 41: Endless Horde
"Are you ready to head out?" Madlad asked the group.
"Knowing that we are fighting against an endless horde, I want to buy some more arrows." Silent said.
"I want to make a purchase as well." Lucan said.
"20 minutes? Meet back here?" Van suggested.
"That works."
Lucan and Silent separated and rushed to get their last minute supplies.
***
After making a party together, Lucan and the others activated their tokens. Beams of blinding light wrapped around them. When it dissipated, they stood in an open field with tens of thousands of players. There were 4 lines. Lucan and the others entered the longest.
The line continuously moved; they didn't have to wait long. Since it was an Instance instead of a dungeon, more than one group could enter at a time. The only reason for the line was to check in with the Source Creations custodian so they could verify that there were no NPCs.
After 5 minutes it was their turn to enter the Instance.
Madlad, Van, Lucy, Silent, and Lucan stood on a hilltop 100 feet wide. 500 feet away from them, in every direction, was an endless fog and the limit of the map. They were not allowed to enter the fog. The design of the Instance was for them to defend the hilltop. They still had no idea what type of enemy they would be facing. The only information they had was a countdown clock in the interface that warned them when the first enemy would show up.
[59m and 47s]
Lucan got straight to work. He took out 16 formation flags and began to carefully place them around the hilltop. Once they had been planted he returned to the center. His last-minute purchase had been a formation eye. It would enhance the formation and allow others to take control. The catch was that the item would be destroyed when the formation collapsed. It was a one-time use item that cost 4 gold. The qualifier was worth the cost.
Lucan started creating telekinetic walls at each of the formation flags. He slowly began to link them together while connecting them to the formations eye. While Lucan worked Lucy began to chant prayer after prayer. She was casting several blessings on the hilltop. The groups base health and mana regeneration started to rise.
Madlad and Van had stocked up on sandbags. They were building small barricades around the hilltop to help block off areas and direct the path of the enemy. There wasn't much Silent could do to help prep. Here type of rogue couldn't set up traps or do much prework in this scenario. She ran around to whoever need and extra set of hands.
"Everyone, when you get a chance, come and drip a bit of blood on the formation's eye." Lucan said holding up a small carved stone covered in runes.
He had finished building the walls, Lucan spent the remainder of the time building illusions and filling the eye with mana.
***
[00m 09s]
"Prepare yourselves." Madlad called out.
Lucan stood in the center of the hilltop holding the formation's eye in one hand and a wand in another. He was ready to instantly activate the formation.
2 legged creatures started walking out of the fog. The humanoid creatures wore leather armor over their pink skin, they were armed with clubs, swords, maces and axes. Lucan had never seen any race like these people. He suspected that they hadn't existed before today. Source Creations would want an enemy that everyone is equal against.
One of the enemy warriors let out a yell causing the rest to start running up the hill.
Arrows flew through the air. Right now, the creatures were at level 101. Every time Silent used one of her archery skills a pink enemy died. Every time 1 died, 2 more would walk out of the fog both a level higher than the one who died. While Silent fired arrow after arrow Lucy started to cast spells at the enemies.
"Let's do it!" Shouted the restless Madlad.
The monk and the warrior charged down separate sides of the hill and dove headfirst into the building crowds. Madlad's fists moved at remarkable speeds as he pummeled and stunned every enemy he came across. His fists struck nerves, stung muscles, and damaged pressure points.
On the other side of the hill Van used the flat of his great sword to bat away 4 people at once. They tumbled backwards into the others behind him while the warriors blade sliced through the air chipping away at their health. Being surround and outnumbered was Van's preferred fighting style. With his taunt's and Aggro grabs, the enemy had no choice but to face him.
Silent and Lucy watched the backs of the 2 melee fighters and made sure they stayed out of danger while Lucan concentrated storing more mana in the formations eye. Even though his Telekinetic Walls overlapped, Lucan's level was pitiful. A standard Telekinetic Wall without extra mana to rely on would crumble within a couple blows from enemies of this level. Thank goodness the weren't Elites.
Occasionally, Lucy switched to Holy Priest and would top off Van and Madlad's health. For 20 minutes they slowly grinded through the ever-growing enemies. When the first level 115 combatant came out things changed. He was armed with a bow. Madlad and Van started to retreat up the hill using the sandbags as cover. With their blood soaked into the formation's eye they were able to move through the Telekinetic Walls without Lucan having to take them down.
When there were a dozen archers, arrows started to land on the top of the hill. Lucan activated the formation. His right eye could see the transparent blue mana in the air solidify into 16 overlapping curved walls. Silent wasn't able to shoot arrows out anymore. She took out her two daggers and started jumping out of the formation when an enemy was below a quarter health left.
When she reached level 85, she learned a new move called fishing strike. It had a certain chance to instant kill anybody when they had less than a third of their health left. She would strike out with both daggers while dodging attacks and building her combo meter. Since the enemies weren't Elites, after she got her combo meter to fifteen Fatal strike triggered the instant kill effect more often than not.
The Telekinetic Walls started to take a pounding as the horde had pushed up the hill in its entirety and were beating on the walls from every direction.
"Van! Silent! With me!" Madlad shouted.
They grouped together and started to circle around the outside of the formation. Lucy began to heal Vanslaughterfest nonstop while Madlad and Silent took turns going back into the formation to recover or avoid large attacks.
They made their way around the formation, peeling the enemies from the invisible walls, giving Lucan a chance to repair the damage. Lucan was still channeling mental mana into the formation as fast as it regenerated but the formation had already used half of the mental mana stored inside. He prepared himself to take the next step.
The fight continued, the highest enemy was level 135. Crossbow users had started to show at 130. They fired slower than the bows, but each bolt flew further, faster, and hit harder. Each time one hit the Telekinetic Wall; Lucan could see cracks form in it with his right eyes. They had to be repaired immediately. More and more crossbow wielders were spawning and taking aim at the invisible walls.
"Fall back. Starting Phase 2!" Lucan yelled out.
*Shatter*
A moment later the first wall shattered. Lucan gripped the formation's eye tightly and stepped back while waving his wand. The second wall behind the shattered one vanished. Lucan pulled the walls tighter together, forming a smaller circle only 20 feet across. The walls had retracted and were now fixed around the flags, making the repairs more efficient. The walls at their back were stacked 4 thick, tapering out around the sides and leaving a 5-foot-wide opening where there was no wall in front of them.
Lucan and Lucy moved behind the half sandbag wall that was their cover while Van went to plug the hole. With Madlad and Silent behind him they started to unload all their skills through the opening where the enemies took turns dying.
"Stay safe, no heals for 20 seconds." Lucy shouted out while starting to cast her most powerful damage spell.