Before the Invasion could start, another problem had arrived. A small group of soldiers in silver armor appeared. They were cutting their way through the undead and slowly moved towards the walls of Constantinople. Garnet had hoped that she could deal with the threats individually, but it looked like this was not going to happen. The Dark Mages may have retreated, but the Grey Ghosts were finally approaching.
As Garnet took a look at the timer. It was almost certainly going to overlap. The countdown had been accelerating all day and there was now less than an hour left.
Quest: Survive the Invasion (00:49:18)
A blue star has appeared in the sky. Ensure that the Invasion is defeated.
Reward: Experience
The goal was going to be to survive until the Invasion occurred. Then, Garnet could let the two weaken each other. "How long?" Zedd asked.
"About fifty minutes," said Garnet.
The soldiers in grey and silver were beginning to line up. They had cleared up some of the undead summoning circles, but it was clear they did not get all of them as there were still undead appearing in the distance.
Garnet scanned the battlefield in an attempt to try to find out which people were actually members of the Grey Ghosts and which were the grunts. Their numbers totaled around two dozen, but their strength varied greatly. Their weakest was level 10, which would be about the strength of a normal soldier. Two people were level 60, which were probably the members of the Grey Ghosts that were visible. What worried Garnet was the fact that there was no one named Firefly or higher level than 60.
"Are the traps ready?" Garnet asked.
"Yes," said Zedd. "Once either of us channels mana into one of these conduits the traps will activate."
Zedd had prepared four conduits for the Northern and Western walls. Each one would trigger a terrain trap when mana was channeled through them. In addition, there were points in which Nyx, Adam, and Raphael were positioned as a seventh trap. The spirits were mostly positioned along the Northern Walls away from the majority of the army. Their power gave the city a temporary shield against the elements.
In front of the city were the automata, Cerberus, and the Revenants. Undead ghosts paired with high tech soldiers seemed like an odd contradiction at first, but that contradiction was what could create doubt in the enemy. The automata soldiers were probably a match for them in terms of numbers, but not strength. "Were we being underestimated?" Garnet thought. That was the only reason why they would send such weak soldiers. However, the Grey Ghosts were present to see what Serena could do, so they should not have sent such low numbers to fight them.
"The moment they move forward to attack, I want you to use that sword of yours," said Zedd.
"Alright," said Garnet.
"Do not forget, our goal is to cause confusion and hope that they flee," said Zedd.
"I haven't forgotten," said Garnet.
In the distance, a single orange light glowed. "Is that fire magic?" Garnet asked.
"Yes," said Zedd. "Don't worry, the shield will protect us if Nuria is doing her job."
The orange light turned green before being directed into a beam as it flew towards the city. VWOOSH. The fire spread outwards against Zedd's anti-magic field, scattering the flames in every direction around the city. There was no damage as a result of the blast. Garnet began to prepare her spell in response. "Crimson Lotus: Blade of Lightning!"
"Fire it as soon as you can," said Zedd.
Garnet swung the blade downward. It flew towards the forces standing before them. BOOM. The explosion spread outward, creating an arc of flames in front of the enemy forces.
You have leveled up!
That message confirmed deaths. It was either a group of people or one of the powerful ones. Dead center of the explosion was a single green light that directed the flames to the side. A few people were still caught in the blast. Either way, it was successful. The forces began to move forward. "Activate the first trap," said Zedd.
Garnet channeled her mana into the first conduit that Zedd had set up. The entire thing glowed blue as several feet of suddenly appeared in the ground between the Grey Ghosts and Constantinople. Anyone wearing metal was likely to be affected by the cold. They were already forced to halt their advance and reconsider their strategy.
That was when the enemy activated their own defense, an anti-magic field. At the center of it was a single person who protected their allies from the weather. They were able to move through the snow, but only three of them. Even if they made it through, they were going to be outnumbered.
"Now the second," said Zedd.
Garnet channeled her mana into the second conduit. The ground cracked as pools of lava appeared. The only way through was either through the narrow paths or to go all the way around. The heat would also mess with any armored troops and prevent a reckless charge, but there was no large army, just a small group that tried to navigate it. The trap brought all of the enemy forces to a halt as they had to reconsider their plans once again. There was no way that they could have predicted something like this would occur.
Quest Update: Survive the Invasion (00:09:18)
A blue star and a green star has appeared in the sky. Ensure that the Invasion is defeated.
Reward: Experience
The time left until the Invasion was suddenly reduced to just under ten minutes. Garnet looked up in the sky and saw that there was now a second eye that was green had appeared. Both of them were looking around. "We won't make it in time," said Garnet.
"Activate all the traps," said Zedd. "That way when the Invasion forces land, some of them might land in the traps and make it easier for us."
"Alright," said Garnet as she began to channel her mana into the remaining traps.
Vines burst from the ground distorting the ground even further. They would have to watch their step as they approached. The ground was then made soggy, increasing the chances something would be trapped if they stepped in it a little too hard.
As Garnet looked out into the distance, the Grey Ghosts were not pulling back. They were still waiting for something. "Were they planning to use the Invasion to their advantage?" Garnet thought. That was always a possibility, but that also meant that they must have had a way to track the Invasions as well.
Multiple summoning circles began to appear from the line of people in front of Garnet. Dozens of familiar looking white wolves appeared.
Name: Silver Wolf
Level: 60
Class: Beast
Sub-Class: Summoned Creature
Stats: High Strength, High Agility
They were a threat before, but with Garnet's newfound strength, they would be easy to handle. What worried Garnet was that everything seemed too easy. For a force that was assembled by the Grey Ghosts, it was inferior to the group that was sent to hunt her in terms of overall strength. Garnet realized something was definitely wrong.
A single green bolt of magic flew into the sky. It came from somewhere in the mountains way off in the distance. The blue eye disappeared for a second as a burst of white light surged through it. The timer was cut down even further.
Quest Update: Survive the Invasion (00:00:18)
A blue star and a green star has appeared in the sky. Ensure that the Invasion is defeated.
Reward: Experience
The timer suddenly went down to almost zero. It was already too late. "Fall back," said Garnet.
"What?" said Zedd. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"We're out of time," said Garnet. "Fall back. With some luck they will be drawn in and the Invasion come to finish them off for us."
"That's impossible," said Zedd. "It hasn't even been thirty hours yet."
"The timer kept skipping time," said Garnet. "We should have had at least seven hours left at this point, but that isn't the case. We have ten seconds."
The black star in the sky now showed a blue eye and a green eye. A black liquid poured forth from the green eye. The black goo moved away from the hazardous areas and reformed. In it, a single skeletal figure in a purple mage robe with yellow highlights appeared.
Name: Conrad, the Lich Master
Level: 101
Class: Necromancer
Sub-Class: Summoner / Invader
Stats: High Intelligence
The creature that appeared through the eye in the sky had a name. It was different from the other times when it was just named after whatever creature that was summoned. The most surprising thing was that it was over level 100. There were very few enemies that were over level 100.
"Disable the traps," said Zedd. "It's only going to make it worse for us if we get caught in them during the fight."
Garnet smashed the magic conduits in front of her, deactivating them. The ground slowly began to return to normal as the rocks around it fell in around the area.
Conrad raised his hands and he began to channel mana into them. To his left, a blue column of light appeared. To his right, a red column of light. As he channeled his mana into it, creatures appeared in each one. In the blue column to his left appeared an undead soldier of some kind heavily clad in armor. In the red column of light to his right appeared a bound skeletal dragon. Garnet was unable to see either of their stats, so it was likely neither were something alive or actually there. "Fusion Summoning!"
The two columns of light began to move towards each other and merge. The light from the two columns turned white as a large white skeletal arm appeared. BANG. The arm smashed against the ground as the creature began to pull itself out.
Name: Undead Dragon Knight
Level: 100
Class: Undead / Dragon
Sub-class: Knight / Invader
Stats: High Vitality
A layer of liquid metal armor appeared on top of the bones, covering it. From the light emerged a humanoid.
ROAR. The voice of a dragon bellowed from the knight. It had green and gold armor from head to toe. It was only possible to see the glowing green eyes through its helmet. The helmet itself had horns to the side. It stood at least two and a half meters tall, much bigger than most people. In its left hand was a large sword. In its right was a shield made of the skull of the dragon. It began to march towards the Grey Ghosts.
In the distance, a small green light from the Grey Ghosts made its way towards the Undead Dragon Knight.
Name: Ricky
Level: 100
Class: Sun Warrior
Sub-Class: Arsonist
Stats: High Intelligence / High Agility
It shot green flames towards the Undead Dragon Knight. BOOM. The flames engulfed Conrad and the Undead Dragon Knight. "Repelling Winds!" Conrad released a powerful burst of wind that dispersed the flames all around them.
Garnet saw that the green light was actually a person. It had engaged the Invasion. "Do we help?" Garnet thought. If she was going to help, it might persuade them to back off later. However, if she helped it might also leave them weak enough to be finished off later.
"Let's go help," said Zedd. "The Invasion is a threat to the whole world. The guardians can protect this city if anything happens."
"Yes," said Garnet. "Transformation: Queen of the Night! Transformation: Lightning Fire Form!"
Conrad began to create another two pillars of light. One with a tree and one with a ghoul of some kind. "Fusion Summoning!"
"Ugh!" the creature groaned.
Name: Petrified Oak
Level: 100
Class: Undead / Golem
Sub-Class: Wood
Stats: High Vitality
A gray tree with a face emerged from the light and quickly it made its way towards the Grey Ghosts. Conrad was summoning powerful creatures at an incredible rate. "Nian will guard the city while Serena and Sunny you two take on the summoner," Garnet ordered.
"I'm going to head to the summoner as well," said Zedd as he split off from Garnet. "Be careful around that man."
The summoner was still the strongest in terms of level, but the guardians should be stronger. Garnet and Zedd headed towards the Undead Dragon Knight in order to support Ricky, who was trying to fight it. Garnet channeled her Lightning Fire Bolt into her hand and rushed towards the Undead Dragon Knight.
New Skill: Lightning Fire Palm
Strike the target using the palm of your hand. The combination of wind, fire, and lightning combines explosive power, knockback, and a stunning effect.
MP Cost: 500
"Lightning Fire Palm!" Garnet aimed straight for the chest of the Undead Dragon Knight.
The Undead Dragon Knight raised its shield to protect its chest. BOOM. The power of the palm strike knocked the Undead Dragon Knight back several feet and cracked part of the skull on its shield. Ricky was flying with some sort of device on his back that resembled a rocket. His entire body was covered with some type of dark red leather. It released green flames downward in order to allow him to fly.
"Thank you," said Ricky. "But this is only temporary. Once this fight is over, we are enemies once more."
Ricky began to gather flames in his hands. As he did so, the back of his hands glowed with a magic symbol of some kind and green light. "Fire Pit!"
The entire ground collapsed as the Undead Dragon Knight fell several feet, knocking it off balance. The bigger they are, the slower they were to react and the easier they would be to knock down unless they had extra feet to balance themselves.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
More black liquid spewed forth from the black star and began to shape into more liches. "Fusion Summoning!" Another creature was being summoned by Conrad. The number of creatures were not very high, but they were tough. They were appearing faster than they could be destroyed. Conrad did not need to stay still to summon. He was moving about and his magic circles just followed him.
Sunny swung a mace at Conrad. BANG. "I got you!" he said. He repeatedly smashed Conrad over and over again with his hammer, but it was already too late. The summoning was complete. A large block of black ice took to the field.
Name: Black Ice Golem
Level: 100
Class: Undead / Spirit
Sub-Class: Frost Mage / Invader
Stats: High Intelligence, High Vitality
"You take the ice one," said Garnet. "Your magic doesn't seem to have much effect on this guy."
Name: Zeus, the Lich Master
Level: 101
Class: Necromancer
Sub-Class: Summoner / Invader
Stats: High Intelligence
The black liquid continued to pour downward like a waterfall. The new liches had already begun to to channel their magic and summon more creatures. There were three of them summoning with more on the way and they had a variety of undead creatures with them. All around them, pillars of red and blue light began to form. The pillars of light were now becoming a familiar sight. "Fusion Summoning!" A ball of fire combined with a ghoul of some kind.
Name: Blazing Ghoul
Level: 100
Class: Undead / Fire Mage
Sub-Class: Invader
Stats: High Strength, High Vitality
They were summoning level 100 creatures with ease and Garnet's forces did not even have enough time to bring down one before more appeared. They were going to be defeated quickly if they did not take any risks. "All forces advance!" Garnet ordered. "Seize the bodies of any fallen enemies!"
Their only chance was to take some of the Invasion creatures for themselves. With their superior numbers, Garnet's forces should be able to take down a few of the Invasion creatures. When they did, the Revenants could absorb them and all them to her own forces. With Garnet's own buffs, they should be strong enough to face them.
The Undead Dragon Knight picked itself up out of the burning pit of fire. Its armor glowed red from the heat, but it had not taken any significant damage. Its eyes were focused on Garnet now.
Garnet flew up close to the Undead Dragon Knight, not giving it a chance to recover. "Lightning Fire Palm!" BOOM. The Undead Dragon Knight was smashed back into the ground before it could fully recover.
"Lightning Fire Bolt!" Garnet repeatedly fired bolts at its chest. BOOM. BOOM. Each time it tried to get back up, Garnet fired at it again. "Lightning Fire Bolt!" BOOM.
Level Up: Lightning Fire Bolt (Level 4)
Stat Increase: Intelligence+1
Another creature had already appeared. A large skeletal snake that emitted poison from its entire body. The undead would need to handle this since they were the ones who were poison resistant.
Name: Undead Hypoptophis
Level: 100
Class: Snake / Undead
Sub-Class: Poison Mage / Invader
Stats: High Agility, High Vitality
"Lightning Fire Bolt!" Garnet fired again at the Undead Dragon Knight. BOOM. CRACK. The armor of the Undead Dragon Knight broke as it finally stayed down.
You have leveled up!
"Recall!" Garnet recalled a Revenant. The Revenant began to fuse with it.
Garnet immediately headed to where the summons were coming from. There were at least twenty Lich Masters now with more coming from the black liquid behind them. Zedd and the guardians had smashed a lot of them, but there were more coming still.
Serena had activated some type of ice armor over her body instead of using her water tentacles. In her hand was a transparent sword of blue and white ice. "They're quite durable," she said. "Not strong, but still tough."
BANG. In the distance, the Black Ice Golem collapsed onto the ground as it collapsed into pieces. The entire golem was burning with green flames all over its body. Garnet could see that her Revenants had already began to rush them, focusing on the downed creatures first in order to absorb their abilities. The strange thing was that none of the Revenants were transforming from consuming their victims. They had already consumed one Lich Master, one Undead Dragon Knight, and one Black Ice Golem. "Was it because they're sharing one corpse?" Garnet thought.
Ricky and his forces began to fall back as they collapsed on the tree that was attacking the Grey Ghosts' main group. Garnet's forces was going to have to deal with the Invasion by themselves. "Was it a trick?" she thought. If they pulled back, they might have the numbers needed to win after the main fight, but now was not the time to think about it. The main threat was the Invasion. Garnet could always flee Constantinople and rebuild it later if others attack.
Zedd was making quick work of a lot of the enemies that he was facing. He was shaping his elements into solid weapons. Hammers of various elements seemed to make quick work against the high vitality targets. He was making effective use with his new spells as a Magic Creator. Even lightning spells that were mainly meant to immobilize a target now contained a fierce amount of damage. "Thunder Lance!" Zedd created a spear made of lightning in his hand and threw it.
THUMP. The spear pierced the body of the Undead Hypoptophis, pinning it down. The Revenants wasted no time as the converged on its body. They began to tear into the body, each of the Revenants absorbing pieces of it. None of them acquired enough to actually fully transform into the creature they used Assimilate on. Some of the Revenants had partial transformations. One had a hand of what appeared to be a woman. Another had shoulders of black ice. Another had legs of wood.
Garnet focused on monitoring the entire battlefield, something that was usually done by Zedd. At the moment, Zedd was focused on pushing through to the summoners while the guardians rushed down the summoners.
A metal humanoid suddenly emerged from the portal. It resembled the undead by looking like an armored ghost. BOOM. It crashed into the ground and landed on its feet, creating a small crater at its landing site.
Name: Machine Spirit – Excelsus
Level: 105
Class: Machine
Sub-Class: Union / Invader
Stats: High Vitality
It looked around for a second. BANG. The metal humanoid broke into pieces. The pieces flew towards one of the Lich Masters. The pieces attached itself to the Lich Master and attached itself like armor.
Name: Gunther, the Arch Lich
Level: 104
Class: Undead / Machine
Sub-Class: Union / Invader
Stats: High Intelligence, High Vitality
The pieces of metal that was attached to the lich began to glow, augmenting the lich's magic. A magic circle opened up in the sky as several large mechanical serpents appeared.
Name: Machine Spirit – Storm
Level: 80
Class: Machine
Sub-Class: Invader
Stats: High Vitality
They began to circle the sky and summon more creatures as well.
"What are those things?" Zedd asked.
"I don't know," said Garnet. "But they're definitely part of the Invasion."
"There's two different people launching an Invasion at us together," said Serena. "They're combining their abilities."
PEW. The sound of numerous arrows firing from the sky could be heard. Countless metal feathers rained down on the battlefield. The strange thing was that it was not aimed at people. The feathers were aimed at empty spots on the ground. They began to split open, revealing a head, arms, and legs.
Name: Machine Spirit – Dust Devil
Level: 20
Class: Machine
Sub-Class: Invader
Stats: High Vitality
They also carried various weapons with them. They were the ground soldiers of the Invasion. Unlike the previous one where the small creatures attacked first, this one opened up with the large ones and the small ones came after. The strange thing was that these were much lower level compared to the other creatures that came from the Invasion.
Spoiler :
Name: Garnet
Level: 44
Class: Chaos Mage / Queen / Hero
Sub-class: Queen of the Night
Stats:
HP: 3400/3400
MP: 12060/12060
Fame: 220
Strength: 132 (+5)
Dexterity: 112 (+7)
Intelligence: 356 (+22)
Vitality: 105 (+5)
Agility: 134 (+7)
Charisma: 42 (+20)
PROFICIENCY:Weapon:
- One Handed Sword – 7
- Hand to Hand – 4
- Staff - 1
Magic:
- Fire – 10
- Lightning – 15
- Wind – 7
- Water - 2
- Summoning – 12
- Blood – 6
- Shadow - 0
SKILLS:Weapon (One Handed Sword):
- Horizontal Slash (Level 3)
- Double Slash (Level 3)
- Crescent Slash (Level 1)
- Triple Slash (Level 1)
- Delta Attack (Level 1)
- Spiral (Level 1)
Weapon (Hand to Hand):
- Palm Strike (Level 1)
- Wind Palm (Level 2)
- Explosive Palm (Level 3)
- Lightning Palm (Level 1)
- Lightning Fire Palm (Level 1)
- Sweeping Kick (Level 1)
- Horizontal Kick (Level 1)
- Uppercut (Level 1)
- Ki Burst (Level 1)
- Demsey Roll (Level 1)
Weapon (Staff):
- Thrust (Level 2)
- Swinging Smash (Level 1)
- Double Strike (Level 1)
- Triple Strike (Level 1)
- Quadruple Strike (Level 1)
- Vertical Smash (Level 1)
Class (Dark Mage):
- Fire Bolt (Level 5)
- Fire Ball (Level 2)
- Incinerate (Level 1)
- Fire Breath (Level 1)
- Lightning Bolt (Level 8)
- Chain Lightning (Level 4)
- Lightning Ray (Level 3)
- Lightning Blast (Level 1)
- Lightning Breath (Level 1)
- Light (Level 1)
- Air Bullet (Level 4)
- Wind Blade (Level 1)
- Wind Breath (Level 1)
- Aqua Strike (Level 2)
- Jet Stream (Level 2)
- Aqua Breath (Level 1)
- Water Wall (Level 1)
- Icicle Lance (Level 1)
- Shadow Bind (Level 1)
- Shadow Grip (Level 1)
- Shadow Crush (Level 1)
- Shadow Wall (Level 1)
- Heat Wave (Level 1)
- Lightning Fire Bolt (Level 3)
- Crimson Lotus: Blade of Lightning (Level 2)
- Tri-Element Breath (Level 1)
- Mugen (Level 1)
- Mana Armor (Level 2)
- Call: Cerberus (Level 1)
- Call: Revenant (Level 1)
- Call: Death Knight (Level 1)
- Call: Romulus, Knight of Blood (Level 1)
- Call: Sylvia, Priestess of Blood (Level 1)
- Call: Lilith (Level 1)
- Call: Nuria (Level 1)
- Call: Mazu (Level 1)
- Call: Sino (Level 1)
- Call: Meliae (Level 1)
- Call: Serena (Level 1)
- Call: Nian (Level 1)
- Call: Sunny (Level 1)
- Recall
- Dismiss
- Quintessence Force (Level 1)
- Lightning Fire (Passive)
- Essence Absorption (Level 1)
- Blood Bind (Level 1)
- Blood Scythe (Level 2)
- Blood Sacrifice (Level 1)
- Blood Bullet (Level 1)
- Transformation: Lightning Form (Level 1)
- Transformation: Lightning Fire Form (Level 1)
- Teleportation (Level 1)
- Teleportation Summoning Circle (Level 1)
- Instance Dungeon Creation (Level 1)
- Spirit Union
- Spirit Link (Passive)
- Final Strike (Level 1)
Sub-class (Queen of the Night):
- Supernatural Body (Level 1)
- Captivation (Level 3)
- Cosmic Awareness (Level 1, Passive)
- Embodiment of Lust (Level 1)
- Shadow Warp (Level 1)
- Sonic Scream (Level 1)
- Doppelganger (Level 1)
- Flight (Level 1)
- Aura of Nightmares (Level 1, Passive)
- Plate Armor (Level 1, Passive)
- Transformation (Level 1)
- Partial Transformation (Level 1)
- Transformation: Queen of the Night (Level 1)
Tradeskills:
- Hunting (Level 5) - Hunter
- Cooking (Level 9) - Cook
- Inspection (Level 5)
- Sewing (Level 4) – Tailor
- Advanced Magicraft (Level 1) – Alchemist
- Magic Seal (Level 1)
- Advanced Enhancement (Level 1) - Alchemist
- Disassemble (Level 1)
- Inventory Expansion (Level 4)
Passives:
- Hand to Hand (Level 1)
- One Handed Sword (Level 1)
- Staff (Level 1)
- Reflex (Level 5)
- Haste (Level 2)
- Scale Armor (Level 1)
- Aura of Leadership (Level 1)
- Aura of the Hero (Level 1)
- Summoning Commander (Level 1)
- Queen's Presence (Level 1)
- Fire Mastery (Level 1)
- Transformation Mastery (Level 1, Passive)
Unique:
- Hero System (Level 3, Passive)
- Minion Development (Level 2, Passive)
- Otherworldly Knowledge (Passive)
- Golden Tongue (Passive)
- Mana Compatibility (Passive)
- Quick Learner (Passive)
- Channeling (Passive)
- Charging (Passive)
- Night Vision (Passive)
- Guardian Contract (Level 1)
- Thaumaturgy (Passive)
- Magic Negation (Passive)