"Infinito. The final challenge begins. All of you will be candidates participating in: Bridal Dance!"
"The rules are simple: Defeat Venuoav while protecting the statue!"
Right after another version of the world boss appeared in the air above Infinito's stronghold, the rules rang through the battlefield. Mountain Lord frowned. He didn't understand what statue C was talking about. The guild leader unconsciously looked towards the centre of their stronghold and his eyes suddenly widened. With an explosion of smoke, a tall statue appeared there.
"Wait, doesn't this mean… Dream Avenue as such a statue as well?!"
Mountain Lord was as if hit by lightning. Could it be that they still had a chance? If he could destroy Dream Avenue's statue, he might still be able to snatch first place! He only had to defend against Dream Avenue's possible retaliation.
Cyclone didn't know that the opposing guild leader was forging plans. At the moment she attacked Venuoav with all her might.
"Damn, I'm almost out of mana!"
"Same!"
The lengthy fight finally took a toll on the mages. Cyclone and Fortune were both running low on mana. Luckily, they had a considerable stockpile of mana potions. Cyclone and Fortune both downed a potion and continued their attacks.
Under the relentless assault the boss soon lost another 100.000HP before realizing she couldn't go on like this.
"Mortals! This will be your end!"
Suddenly the Dark Bride's body turned into sparks of blue flames, which struck at the surrounding players. Caught off guard the tanks only managed to defend against half of the sparks. The rest reached the attacking warriors and thieves, causing quite some damage. Another three players died. By now the guild had lost about 40 players during the boss fight.
The casualties were solely among the melee players. Liam showed some worry. If more melee players died, they might find it troublesome to hold the zombies back while battling the boss.
While Liam was having such thoughts, the boss appeared again floating in the sky. There were still flames orbiting her. Venuoav waved her hand and sparks of dark magic suddenly came from her body and shot into the flaming balls, adding a streak of black to their bright blue.
Next, she suddenly pointed her finger towards a dense crowd of players. Her target were the insolent mortals who had attacked her until a moment ago. Instantly one of the flame balls fell towards the ground, leaving a trail of blue and black in the sky. An enormous pressure fell on the players facing the small meteor, causing them difficulties to breath.
Seeing what was happening in front of the stronghold Cyclone didn't hesitate to spend points again. She was sure that the dark magic mixed into the flame wasn't only for show. Thus, she opted for a more potent defensive spell.
Gnetic looked towards the sky and gulped. He was just about to use his ultimate to offer at least some protection when he saw a magic circle appearing out of thin air. He let out a relieved breath. His view suddenly darkened as he and the other players were enclosed in a small mountain of rocks.
Suddenly the entire mountain shook. Rocks fell from the ceiling. A loud explosion echoed in the cave they were in. Light came in through a few deep cracks. A few seconds later the mountain disappeared.
The players wore shocked expressions as they observed their surroundings. For a radius of multiple meters not a single blade of grass remained. All the zombies had been burnt to ashes. The flames even reached the stronghold, reducing the HP of the closest segment by 200.000 points. It only had 800.000HP remaining.
At this point all the other guilds had started the final challenge. They closely watched what was happening on Dream Avenue's side. While Beast Den only wanted to learn the abilities of the boss, TwinThieves and Infinito were considering whether to interfere.
Sevrance knew that his guild was too far behind Dream Avenue now. If they wanted to have any chance of overtaking the famous guild, they would have to go all in. Only if they could destroy Dream Avenue's statue, forcing them to repeat the final challenge, would it buy enough time. But in order to do so Sevrance knew they probably had to spend all their points. He was reluctant to do so.
Similar considerations were flying through Mountain Lord's mind. However, as he watched the world boss showing her might he eventually sighed and decided that it wasn't worth the gamble. He was afraid of spending all his points on bringing down Dream Avenue, only for Infinito to get overwhelmed by Venuoav as they couldn't afford defensive spells. Wouldn't this be like an invitation for TwinThieves to overtake them?
Thus, the fight on Dream Avenue's side continued without interference. Venuoav threw two more fire balls. One of those was aimed at the centre of the stronghold. Cyclone almost lost her cool observing the terrifying bomb aiming for their most vulnerable place. She spent their points generously, buying the spell they had used towards the beginning of the guild war. A large dome protected the entire stronghold.
When the flames crashed into the dome they erupted with terrible might. But the dome wasn't as feeble as a layer of rocks. It endured the explosion and remained standing, keeping the stronghold safe.
"Hmpf!"
Venuoav let out a snort which echoed in everyone's ears. She disappeared from the sky and returned to the ground. Rushing forward she struck the dome with her skeletal hand, causing the entire shield to tremble.
The players were granted a short break. They repositioned themselves, bolstering their numbers wherever the zombies were the densest.
"What a sight…"
"I say it again: we landed in a horror movie!"
Watching the zombies brandishing against the dome like the waves of an ocean, pushing their bodies upwards, many of the guild members had a stifling feeling in their chests. The banging noises coming from Venuoav attacking the barrier didn't improve the situation.
The dome lasted for another minute before it suddenly disappeared. Zombie waves suddenly broke. The undead fell to the ground, mercilessly trampled to death by those coming from behind. The hordes of zombie were like a tense spring which was suddenly released, pushing towards Dream Avenue. And in the lead was Venuoav with burning eyes.
"Ah!"
"Dream Avenue!"
"GOO!"
The guild members let out loud war cries to encourage themselves. Before the dome disappeared, Cyclone and Balm had already decided to buff the players. Thus, another spell was bought. A blinding halo erupted from the tower, raising the damage and resistance of everyone it touched.
Thanks to the buff the guild members had an easier time dealing with the zombies and more people could focus on Venuoav. The rate at which she lost HP increased.
For a few minutes the battle continued like this. Venuoav lost HP at a constant rate. From time to time she would throw fire balls, forcing Cyclone to buy defensive spells. However, Dream Avenue's points weren't endless. Cyclone couldn't only buy the strongest spells. But the weaker spells couldn't cover such a large area. Thus, Venuoav continuously caused casualties among the guild members, and the stronghold was damaged in multiple places.
Eventually the players realized that the pressure brought by the zombies increased. The undead monsters managed to get ever closer towards the stronghold. If they managed to break through, the walls might not hold for that long under the numerous attacks.
Cyclone and Balm were soon forced to assist the 800 remaining guild members further. They finally spent 100 points to hire the group of mercenaries.
"You can count on us!"
The mercenary captain nodded in the direction of the guild leaders. Somehow the mercenaries had received an improvement in strength since their participation in the second challenge. Each of them had become a level 50 lord while the captain even reached the rank of a boss. They went out in teams of two and proved their power against the zombies, assisting the players greatly.
As the mercenaries and Dream Avenue worked together, they got the fight under control. Gradually Venuoav's HP dropped to 100.000. No matter if she was on the ground or in the sky, she was constantly under attack.
In the meantime, Cyclone was running out of mana once and leisurely swung her wand for normal attacks. She had some time to observe how the other guilds were faring. She was just in time to witness Venuoav throwing a black and blue fire ball towards TwinThieves's stronghold.
Sevrance reacted in time, copying Dream Avenue, and protected his guild members with a large dome. He was relieved that he didn't use their points to interfere with Dream Avenue's battle or this attack by Venuoav would have had devastating consequences.
Similar incidents happened during Beast Den's and Infinito's fights. They were under great pressure when dealing with the zombies and the world boss. Mountain Lord could only let out a sigh as he glanced towards Dream Avenue, knowing that his opponent was all but guaranteed first place.