The atmosphere was tense as all the guilds were eyeing each other wearily. With the gaps narrowing everyone expected sudden attacks from their competitors. However, as everyone remained wary no one dared to make the first move.
Instead of the players it were unexpectedly the NPCs who suddenly showed some changes. At the bottom of the hill multiple large mounds of earth appeared, akin to large mole hills. Instantly skeletal hands with thick, sturdy bones broke out of them. They pulled their own bodies up and dug themselves out of the ground.
"Careful guys! New enemies!"
"Ew, what's that? Why do they look so strange?"
Many players openly showed their disgust. The new enemies were twice as tall as the surrounding zombies with skeletal arms but large, fleshy bodies. Their round heads were filled with fat, wrinkles almost covering their eyes.
"I've never seen something so strange! A half-decayed ghoul?"
"Damn, this thing is tanky! My arrows are barely dealing any damage!"
As the new enemies appeared the players naturally attacked immediately, putting their defence to the test. And the ghouls indeed proved quite tanky even under the concentrated assault. They wouldn't die for at least a couple of minutes.
However, while everyone was sounding out the new enemies, Liam raised his brows in surprise. He swiftly made subtle preparations, instruction the melee players to stay close to and within the stronghold. The players obliged without further questions, knowing that the commander surely had his reasons for doing so.
Only a few seconds later the melee players found out why Liam had them move. Surprised gasps ran through the crowd as one of the ghouls suddenly grabbed the zombie standing next to it. Despite not having any muscles the ghoul's skeletal arms proved incredibly strong as it lifted up the skeleton by its neck.
The ghoul's fat belly swayed as it changed to a skilful throwing posture as if were an olympic spear thrower. Suddenly the ghoul's arm snapped forward and released the zombie, which flew out like a spear, drawing a wide arc and landing in the middle of the stronghold.
[Bleary Mirage: Attack it from all sides! Don't let it reach the profession players!]
Dream Avenue's players were startled from what they had just seen but Liam's command immediately got them moving. The melee players jumped at the zombie, attacking fiercely and killing it in the fastest time.
However, there were ten ghouls standing at the bottom of the hill. At this moment they all began to grab zombies and throw them towards the stronghold, trying to sow chaos.
[Bleary Mirage: Melee players take care of the enemies within! Ranged players keep focusing the ghouls!]
Thanks to Liam, Dream Avenue handled the situation well and it remained orderly. However, the same could not be said about the other guilds. Caught off guard they allowed more than ten zombies to land within their strongholds before they managed to coordinate a response.
For a while the other guilds were in chaos. Some of their ranged players turned around, assisting in getting rid of the enemies within the stronghold, thus allowing the zombies outside to gain ground. At the same time the speed at which they earned points also slowed down.
Fat Tiger had just smashed the head of a disgusting zombie in, spectating the scene sternly. Watching the chaos an idea came to his mind. This would be the perfect time to launch an attack. But should he try to vie for first place or make sure to stay ahead of Dream Avenue? Fat Tiger discussed with Glorious Sunrise and the two guild leaders quickly came to a decision.
Over at Dream Avenue's side Bloody Edge was squatting in front of the workshop housing their alchemists. He was somewhat bored playing the guard here. His eyes scanned the surroundings, hoping a zombie would come close enough to justify him taking action.
Suddenly Bloody Edge noticed a movement out of the corner of his eyes. His head shot around and stared at some decorative stripes of cloth. He could have sworn they had just moved! In the chaotic situation this wasn't too surprising, but they were at the edge of the stronghold, quite some distance away from the real battle.
Bloody Edge frowned, raising his vigilance. He subtly shifted his body to block the door. Then, he remained completely still like a statue. Only his eyes kept moving around. When the thief's tense muscles began to hurt, he finally noticed another movement. Some dust was kicked away. This time he was certain! There were thieves sneaking around!
Although he didn't know how they managed to silently infiltrate the stronghold, Bloody Edge instantly informed the guild. Reading the thief's message, Liam told the players not to react too obviously. Under his orders the battle was like a delicate dance, subtly shifting in Bloody Edge's direction.
Dark Shadow Walker was hiding behind a barrel. After Fat Tiger used a scroll to send him and two other thieves, Bat's Fang and Silent Panther, outside Dream Avenue's stronghold they quickly managed to sneak inside and locate their target.
Fat Tiger paid quite a hefty sum to redeem this scroll which showed no signs upon being activated. In order for this to be worth it, they had to bring some serious losses to Dream Avenue. Simply killing a few mages or so was not enough. But if they could take out some profession players, the rate at which Dream Avenue received mana potions would reduce, which would indirectly affect their point gathering speed.
Dark Shadow Walker was focused on his goal, but as he got close to the workshop his instincts suddenly rang warning bells. After fighting for more than three months in the game most players had learned to trust their instincts. Especially for those thieves sneaking around in stealth it was extremely important.
But now Beast Den's thieves were caught between a rock and a hard place. They neither dared to retreat or advance. Suddenly Silent Panther narrowed his eyes seemingly noticing a strange behaviour of Dream Avenue's player.
[Silent Panther: Guys, does it look like the battlefield is shifting towards our direction?]
[Bat's Fang: You think so? It might be just a coincidence.]
[Silent Panther: Do you really think that? Should I call you stupid or naïve?]
Bat's Fang rolled his eyes. Luckily, he had known Silent Panther for a long time and wasn't offended by the man's rough attitude.
[Dark Shadow Walker: You're right, Panther. Whether coincidence or not, we need to act! With every second the chance of being discovered increases! Follow my lead!]
Knowing that he couldn't wait any longer Dark Shadow Walker adjusted his mind and finally decided to attack. He came out from behind the barrel and carefully sneaked towards the workshop. The three thieves were like predators on silken paws, showing no signs of their presence.
They were getting closer and closer to the workshop. Two steps, one step…
Suddenly everything happened in a flash. Dark Shadow Walker and Bloody Edge almost discovered each other simultaneously. But the latter was just the tiniest bit faster. He conjured four daggers formed from brightly shining holy light, attracting everyone's attention.
The daggers shot out, aiming right for Dark Shadow Walker. Proving his skills Beast Den's thief reacted instantly and threw his body to the side. However, his stomach dropped as he knew they had been discovered.
[Dark Shadow Walker: Quick! Attack! Try to get into the workshop!]
The other thieves were one step behind Dark Shadow Walker. Watching Bloody Edge suddenly appear out of thin air they narrowed their eyes and jumped at Dream Avenue's thief.
Bloody Edge gritted his teeth. Trusting in his guild members he didn't move away, protecting the door bravely. Four daggers pierced right towards his vital points.
[-1945!]
[-1892!]
Two damage numbers popped up. But at that moment Bloody Edge was blessed by luck as his passive suddenly activated. The thief turned into a spark of light, flashed, and appeared a few metres away in stealth. Meanwhile a figure made of blinding light appeared where Bloody Edge had just been. Piercing the enemies' eyes the figure momentarily dazed the two thieves. And this moment quickly turned fatal!
Suddenly more members of Dream Avenue arrived, surrounding the enemies. The thieves tried to get away by using their skills, but Dream Avenue was already prepared. This was exactly the reason why Liam shifted the battlefield towards this side. With so many members of Dream Avenue around the thieves might be able to confuse on or two but it was impossible to trick everyone. Soon, they fell under Dream Avenue's blades and were kicked out of the guild war.
"Nice one, Edge!"
"Must be frustrating for others that our thief is simply the best!"
"Haha, his eye for stealth must be the best in the world!"
Bloody Edge was somewhat embarrassed by the excessive praise. With Liam around how would he dare to claim being the best at detecting stealth? After all, he learned it all from the expert.