The spawnpoint lit up and a warrior in gleaming polished plate armor appeared. He held his helmet in the crook of his arm, the sacred two-handed sword resting in a magical back scabbard. He twirled his golden mane of hair and brushed it back. When he realized that no one was watching him, he grimaced in annoyance and unceremoniously jumped off the platform.

He looked around. As when he had last arrived, the spawnpoint was in the middle of the forest on the upper third of a kilometer-long slope, from the plateau of Kaldur down to the S'Babbi steppe. Tree houses and hunter stands were hidden high up in the trees all around, but at the moment he couldn't see any inhabitants. The usual cooking fires in the nearby clearing were also absent. Frowning, he jogged along the path. Down the slope, the sound of fighting became audible. He sped up and after a few minutes arrived at a group of heroes standing around a table set up on a flat spot, discussing. The table was shaded by a five-meter-high elm tree that spread its branches like an umbrella over the assembled group.

A mage in a white robe looked up and recognized him: "Salladar! Good that you're back. We can use every man, and a paladin twice as much."

The paladin took off his helmet, twirled his hair around and back and then stepped up to the table to take a look at the map and the numerous wooden figures placed on it: "What's the situation?"

"It’s utter shit." Salladar blinked in surprise. The usually so serious mage had never expressed himself so vulgarly. "Master Hodar!"

"It's true." The mage pointed disparagingly at the map: "This is no fun anymore. We have a full raid group of player-heroes here. Plus the support of the Lady of the Forest..." he pointed to a Hamadryad standing at the end of the table. Salladar bowed: "You honor us with your presence, Queen of the Forest."

The Hamadryad towered over the heroes around her by at least a head. Her hair was streaked with ivy and leaves, her skin patterned and the shade of oiled walnut wood. A hoop of gold-colored wood adorned her forehead. She nodded wearily at the paladin. Cracks and wrinkles crisscrossed her once flawless face. Some of the leaves in her hair were wilted and brittle. What was happening to the forest was also affecting the Hamadryad: "Save your formalities. The forest will fall before the sun sets."

Everyone followed her gaze to the sky, where the sun was high above the treetops.

"Surely you are exaggerating. Heroes, your dryads, the elves of the Forest Kingdom and the mighty beasts of your realm, can't just fall."

The Hamadryad wiped her hand through the air above the table. An illusion appeared, showing a view of the forest from treetop level. At the bottom of the valley, the forest merged almost seamlessly into a stony desert. Salladar knew from stories he had been told by bards at the inn before his first arrival in the forest that the forest could only exist through the magic of a few nature-affine power nodes. Countless figures in blood-red robes and armor entered the forest. The wooden barriers and thickets of magical thornbush, that had secured the border until just a day ago, were burnt, chopped up and full of wide passages. Further up, elves, mages and assorted warriors huddled in trees and behind improvised cover, firing magic and bows incessantly. But with little success. The paladin narrowed his eyes. His tactics skill helped him to quickly analyze the situation: "They form groups of three warriors with tower shields, two ranged fighters with bows in cloth armor and a mage or cleric. I can't quite make them out. They're mostly limited to defensive magic. Shields against magic and arrows."

The Forest Queen nodded: "Well spotted. They are all mages/clerics."

"What? How did they get the system to accept so many multiclass builds? Almost no one manages to get a second class."

"Normally yes, but here... Master Hodar, tell him."

The mage hesitated and swallowed. Then he began in a low, uncertain voice: "The barbarians of the Storm Mountain Guild changed sides this morning."

"What, all of them? That was almost twenty players... er... heroes. Including our highest-level fighters. Most of them were level 8 barbarians. The Storm Mountain guild has been at it since the beta opened. They've been storming through dungeons day and night to level up. What happened?"

"They received a visit from a hooded figure during the night. After a brief discussion, their leader Donnerhau Flammenzorn agreed to a meeting. The two spent an hour in his tent, then the others were called in. Towards morning, they all gathered in the large square and announced that the barbarians had been chosen by a god. One of the Forgotten Gods from the Dark Ages is on his way back. Anyone who joined him received five bonus cleric levels. Completely independent of the normal classes. With no XP deduction for multiple classes of different levels. From the few occasions we've been able to analyze the mages in combat, they all have it. The ranged fighters and shield bearers only have a tiny mana pool, but even they can occasionally cast a spell."

"Then they just walked away? Damn."

"Worse. They declared holy war on the other gods and then all went berserk on our clerics. Twenty barbarians against just a dozen unprepared clerics. They were dead before we knew what was going on. We managed to take out two of the barbarians on the run, but the rest got away. They don't seem to be fighting on this front here. At least no one has seen them since."

“So, our clerics are still in time-out?”

"Yes. All gone. Earliest respawn time is tomorrow, shortly after sunrise. We won't have a single healer by then. Most of the elves have already fallen, plus half the forest beasts."

The paladin grimaced: "And tomorrow morning is Monday."

While the heroes at the table all nodded in understanding, the Hamadryad frowned: "What does that mean?"

"Forgive me, this has to do with our way of life in our world. Many of us can only reach your world two days a week. The other five days we have to work for a living or complete our education in our world."

"But most of you have been here for far longer than two days."

"Two days in your world. Time here runs four times faster than in our world. Two days with us are therefore eight days here."

"Then you will leave us tomorrow?"

"Tonight, most of us will leave this world and not return for another twenty days or so. Forgive us. When we rushed to your aid a week ago, we didn't think this battle would last this long."

"I can't blame you for that. When you stepped out of the spawnpoint here, I was convinced that you would wipe our enemies off the face of the world in a matter of days." She sat down on a tree stump next to the table and seemed to collapse: "Then my people are lost. The forest will fall."

All eyes focused on the paladin, who was famous in the group for his strategic skills. Salladar looked at the map table, now back to normal, and studied the arrangement of the pieces. He shook his head regretfully: "We can't win. In your illusion, the situation looked even worse than it is depicted on our strategic map. I see only one option left: we heroes throw ourselves at the enemy to stop them. That will give your people enough time to flee."

The Hamadryad nodded wearily. She had expected nothing less: "I cannot leave the forest, as you are well aware. I will fight and fall by your side. Our sacrifice will weaken the followers of the New God to such an extent that they will not be able to pursue my forest elves and the other forest dwellers, nor attack any other territory in the coming months."

The heroes were already picking up their weapons, which were leaning against trees nearby, when she continued: "One more thing... Save my daughter Ulmenglanz."

"Your attackers will certainly recognize and destroy the dryad trees."

"I will create an offshoot that can be transported in a pot. My elven craftsmen are already working on a stretcher for this purpose. Four bearers, who will take turns, will be able to carry it without much difficulty. Ulmenglanz herself will take care of the offshoot and keep it alive. And it her."

The branches above the table began to tremble, then they retreated into the trunk, which also contracted. Hands went to weapons, as the dryad took on her human form next to the table: "Mother! I will not flee!"

"Yes, you will." The queen's voice brooked no argument. "Our forest may fall, but my family will not perish. You will take our traditions and memories to safety. Take the seed box from the temple. With these seeds, the forest will grow anew and you shall become its queen."

Salladar rubbed his chin thoughtfully: "Why don't you flee this way yourselves? Our death is not permanent, but yours is. Even if we lose a whole level every time, we are happy to make the sacrifice."

Grumbling sounded all around. His companions didn't quite agree with him. It was becoming increasingly difficult to level up at higher levels. Most of them had only managed to gain one or two levels during the week, despite the almost constant fighting. Salladar himself was the highest leveled of the players at level 9, so he made the biggest sacrifice. That, and the knowledge that they would have a place here in a heroic and epic story, convinced them to join in. The Last Stand of the Forest Queen would remain in the annals of the world for all time. If they rose another level before they died, the loss would be acceptable.

One of the heroes, TurnipDerBunte, a bard who had been sitting silently at the table, suddenly looked up: "Wait, did the Hamadryad just say temple? There is no temple here in the forest."

The queen turned to him and silence fell over the clearing. Then she nodded slowly and deliberately: "There is no point in keeping this secret any longer. Here in the forest lies the hidden last temple of Fliedabarr, the god of the dryads."

Salladar frowned: "I've never heard of the god or a temple here in the border forest."

The queen looked at him resignedly: "That's why I called it the hidden temple. It is the last temple of Fliedabarr. If it falls to the followers of another deity or is destroyed, then our god will perish."

Salladar used his Knowledge skill for Religious Knowledge, but got no result. His talent score was too low to provide any information about this obscure god. The bard jumped up and down excitedly: "I know! I've read all about him because I originally wanted to become a cleric. Fliedabarr has hardly any spells useful to adventurers. He spends most of his Divine Power on growing his sacred groves. He has very little of it. In the records, he only had a few followers. Most who are interested in a god of nature worship Borrk, Lord of the Woods. A balanced spell list with animal control, protection spells and healing magic. Borrk is known to regularly assist his followers with major miracles."

Ulmenglanz stormed over to him. Dry leaves whirled up from the ground around her. Her eyes flashed as she looked down at the slightly smaller bard from above: " Borrk? That upstart and braggart. He sucks up to his acolytes unabashedly. But does he care about the wild forests, the protection of animals and the balance of nature? Not a seed's breadth. Lots of talk about nature, but he does nothing. Of course, he has divine power in abundance to do useless favors for his followers."

The paladin raised his hands reassuringly: "For now, we should concentrate on the more pressing problems." He pointed to a hero wearing the traditional robes of the druids: "Esche, you get the seed box from the temple."

Then his gaze wandered to a motley group consisting of a half-elf, a half-orc and a bard almost two and a half meters tall, whose race he could not classify. Behind her leg appeared a green-skinned runt, whom he had been introduced to as a half-goblin, and a beer-bellied halfling in fur clothing: "You five are a well-coordinated group..."

The bard interrupted him with a deep, yet recognizably feminine voice: "It's all right. We're entertaining around the campfire, but too chaotic in a battle. You want to get rid of us."

"I wanted to put it nicer, but yes. I never know what you guys are going to come up with next. Cutting down trees was a great tactic last week, but you really should have checked to see if there were any scouts hidden up top first. Most importantly, you're all lightly equipped and quick off-road. You collect a few more of the rangers over at the camp and accompany princess Ulmenglanz."

The bard assumed a snappy stance and saluted. Then earth splashed up as she turned to the others on the spot and thundered out: "Half-brothers! Rally, turn right and march!"

Salladar looked at the bard's unmistakably feminine features with a raised eyebrow: "Half-brothers?"

The half-goblin grinned cheekily at him from below: "We voted fairly on the name of our team."

Princess Ulmenglanz had listened to the brief dialog with interest and was about to object to the plan, but her mother snapped at her: "You will not sacrifice the forest for your pride. Save the seed box. Save the forest. Escaping will be dangerous enough, for surely our enemies have scouts behind our lines. You'll get enough fights and glory along the way." Her expression softened: "Farewell, daughter. I am proud of you."

Then she wheeled around and strutted off towards the battle with her head held high. As she walked, she raised her arms to her sides in a majestic pose. The air around her began to shimmer and with each step, waves of green shimmer pulsed across the ground in concentric waves. A soft crackling and popping sound made the heroes look around anxiously, as the source was at first unrecognizable. A tremor ran through the trees. On half a dozen of the large oaks that the Dryad Queen passed, branches began to sway slightly back and forth. The ground around the trees began to move. Arm-thick roots were pushing earth aside and wriggling out of the ground.

Salladar took a worried step back, for if these giant trees were to topple, the surroundings would become very unhealthy. The trees swayed slightly back and forth, but instead of falling, the roots broke out of the ground in a wide radius, bracing themselves and lifting the trees out of the ground. The ground shook as they uprooted themselves and followed the dryad.

The heroes watched the giant tree creatures open-mouthed as they deftly weaved their way through the dense forest, finding a path with earth-shaking steps without leaving a trail of devastation in their wake.

TurnipDerBunte put the general mood into words: "Why hasn't she done that yet?"

The dryad princess spoke softly and sadly: "She is sacrificing the life force of the forest itself for this. Now that all is lost, she can do this. None of these trees will survive the next hour. This whole clearing will become a gray and lifeless place before a moon has passed."

As Salladar followed her gaze, he too could see that the grass was wilting and turning brown all around him. The leaves on the trees and bushes were also becoming lighter, as if an early autumn was spreading in fast motion.

Ulmenglanz took one last look across the clearing, then waved the heroes assigned to her over and marched off. Esche the druid bowed and whispered something in her ear after asking for permission very submissively. Salladar couldn't see the look on her face from behind, but she nodded to the druid, whereupon he sprinted off and disappeared into the undergrowth.

TurnipDerBunte adjusted his leather armor, checked that all the daggers were safely in their sheaths and then nodded: "I'm ready. One more joke to boost morale and then we're off."

The others finished their preparations and then turned to him, waiting. Some were already grinning in anticipation.

The bard lifted his mandolin from his shoulder, played a few chords and then asked: "Why is a hamadryad never found in a steam bath?"

A general shrug of the shoulders and questioning looks answered him.

"Because then it would be a hammam dryad!" The bard ended with a loud chord and looked around expectantly. Hands were placed on faces and some of the heroes groaned and writhed in feigned pain.

"Well, come on... Hammam? Turkish steam bath? You know that, don't you?"

Salladar summed up the general mood: "That, TurnipDerBunte, was the worst joke I've ever heard."

The bard grimaced in offense: "Come on, he really wasn't that bad..."

Contrary to the usual behavior of the world voice, the following message was displayed to everyone present:

Attribute change for TurnipDerBunte: Charisma -1

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Salladar whistled through his teeth: "Wow. He was so bad that even the voice of the world punished him. I've never heard of anything like it."

TurnipDerBunte stood up triumphantly: " Once again, you see how unique I am! Let someone else try to replicate that. Come on, into battle! I'll write a mocking song about the last one to finish off an opponent!"

The heroes grabbed their weapons and marched down the slope. Salladar sprinted to the front. He reached for his mighty two-handed sword, which protruded over his shoulder. The magical back scabbard folded out to its full length so that he could draw the long blade comfortably. He swung the sword towards the sky. His voice thundered through the forest: "Pallandur, god of quests and heroes, behold these heroes who fight in your name. See these heroes answering your call, fulfilling your quest. Give us your blessing!"

Golden light spread from the blade, filling all his allies with courage and confidence and granting them a +2 bonus to attack, parry and damage rolls.

At his orders, groups of six heroes formed, as the forest was too dense to maintain larger formations. They also made faster progress this way.

The paladin beckoned the mage Hodar, the bard and three spear throwers to him and then put on his helmet.

Barely ten minutes later, the first opponents came into view. The small groups wandered openly through the terrain. Protected by magical domes and shields, they did not bother with cover. The archers fired at anything that moved, while the mages and clerics threw fireballs and jets of flame at the trees and bushes behind which the defenders were entrenched.

The heroes came into view just in time to see the Dryad Queen's attack. Six huge oaks fanned out into a broad front, swaying towards the enemy with branches swinging far and wide. Some groups of invaders broke apart and were targeted by ranged fighters. Most of the enemy, however, stood their ground and began firing incendiary arrows and fire spells at the trees.

The dryad stood back a little and raised her arms again in an imploring gesture. She stood there for a moment with her arms spread wide, as if she wanted to embrace her opponents. She swung her arms forward and the entire forest glowed golden. Wind swept her hair forward. A golden shimmer in the air swept like a wave across the entire width of the battlefield from the forest towards her opponents. Salladar narrowed his eyes. It wasn't a wave of light, but rather... dust?

Hodar the Mage cast an analysis spell: "These are magically charged flower pollen. Many NPCs in this world are born with an allergy to something as a disadvantage. No matter what they are allergic to, this stuff will trigger a reaction. Yet it doesn't count as an attack for most protection spells. Insidious. Remind me never to mess with a dryad."

The cloud of pollen swept over the enemies and many paused for a moment. Especially as the dust swept through the magic domes without any problems. Krigesti fighters shrugged their shoulders and were about to go on the offensive against the giant trees again when the first began to cough. Others began to scratch frantically. A few simply fell to the ground, gasping and holding their throats. The effect did not last long, but it was enough to allow the tree giants to reach their opponents relatively unharmed. Branches crashed thunderously against the protective domes, which lit up brightly... and disintegrated after a few blows. Now invaders were flying left and right through the area. The fighters who had been holding the front line got up from their cover and went on the offensive. Salladar and his group renewed their battle cry and charged out of the forest. The paladin raised his two-handed sword and took aim at an enemy group whose dome was being attacked by a giant tree. He lashed out with his blade and waited for the moment when the dome collapsed: "Hodar, when the shield falls, take out the melee fighters with the tower shields." He turned to the three spearmen on his team: "You take care of the ranged fighters. I'll take care of the mage."

The shield spell flickered under another branch blow.

"Watch out! Just one or two more blows and it will disintegrate."

The giant tree lunged and leaned forward. Salladar prepared to charge forward, expecting a particularly powerful blow from the tree. Instead, the mighty oak leaned further and further forward. The branches swung aimlessly. Then he fell forward. The mage grabbed him by the arm and yanked him backwards. Confused, the paladin kicked his feet and pushed himself the last few meters before the tree trunk hit him where he had just been standing. Salladar looked around the battlefield. Giant trees were falling to the ground everywhere. The storm of pollen died down. "Where is the queen? I don't see her anywhere."

One of the spear throwers pointed his spear diagonally forward: "The dryad was just over there! It just fell over!"

As the general of the group, Salladar was able to access a map using his Tactics skill. A glance showed him the position of the Dryad Queen and the other six-man squads. Another skill allowed him to shout commands in a voice that was clearly audible to all his allies, even in the midst of the noise of battle: "Squad Three, Squad Seven: Secure the area around the Dryad against further attacks. Group Eight, check what's wrong with her and heal her if possible. Could be a debuff or curse. Try antidote elixir and healing potions. I'll reimburse you for the cost later, so don't skimp. If the queen can intervene in the fight again, that would be a huge tactical advantage."

He turned his attention back to his opponents. The Krigesti groups had stopped and dug in, for a moment as surprised as the defenders of the forest. Then the invaders thundered their swords against the shields and the mages raised their banners. The group in front of them had not carried a banner before, but now their mage raised one too.

Salladar paused in amazement: "Where did they suddenly get that long pole. We can’t have missed them carry it around!"

Master Hodar laughed: "Ever since the latest update, NPCs seem to be equipped with extra-dimensional containers. The classic Bags of Holding, you know? It's a recent addition; I don't recall them having those in the earlier versions. Now, they're practically standard issue for NPCs, just like they are for us heroes. Quite the development, I must say. Seems like it's the first purchase on everyone's list these days

The paladin tried to keep an eye on the whole area at the same time, nodding absently to himself: "We never complained to the traveling merchants when they had far more goods on them than they could realistically carry. So they've had them for a long time, only now they're more open about it."

Salladar tried to recognize the banners more clearly. The coats of arms were shield-shaped and showed the same symbol everywhere as before: A black spiral with a silver flame in the center. It looked as if the spiral was drawing everything in the vicinity into the flames. A devouring vortex. A sign he had never seen before this quest. The shield was not a banner or cloth like other groups usually used, but made of sturdy sheet metal. It really made an impression. The silver flame in particular was studded with semi-precious stones or shards of glass so that it sparkled in the sun.

A ball of flame hurtled towards him. He casually swung his two-handed sword right into the trajectory of the combat spell. The blade flashed silver and the spell was flung aside into the terrain.

The Krigesti were already resuming their attack. He stumbled. As always, without a recognizable signal. No one blew a horn, no drums beat and no one shouted orders. No attacker spoke a single word. Were the banners possibly magical artifacts for communication? Before he could ask the mage to try an analysis spell, a shrill howl sounded from the steppe behind the attackers. Dog-like creatures with sand-colored fur swept out from behind hills. Desert wolves. Behind them appeared men in sand-colored robes carrying staves as tall as a man. Salladar had never seen these attackers himself, but recognized them as beastmasters from stories in the forum.

Beastmasters slowed down the attack considerably, as they could not run as fast as their animals, even with their special abilities. The only player he knew who had chosen this character class complained about it at every opportunity. He also lost control of his animals at barely two hundred meters. The beasts then sat down comfortably or walked back to him. Salladar expected the beastmasters to start running. But they only moved forward at a leisurely pace, while desert wolves continued to charge at full speed on a broad front.

The paladin was torn from his thoughts when the Krigesti group's magic shield dissolved in front of him and a melee fighter rushed towards him with his tower shield. Nothing more could be seen of him than the shield he held in front of him. Salladar leapt towards him, narrowly avoiding a crossbow bolt. The shield attack left no opening for a direct attack, but the warrior blocked his own field of vision with the shield. A typical rookie mistake. Salladar dodged to the left at the last moment and swung his two-handed sword to hit the attacker's shield arm behind the shield. The shield turned and easily fended him off. He cursed. His opponent was left-handed!

A searing pain shot up his right side. He could not look down far enough to see the point of impact as his field of vision was severely restricted by the heavy helmet with its small viewing slits. A wisp of smoke rose from his armor. The Krigesti mage had hit him hard. Salladar relied on the rather long spell duration and ignored the mage. With a fighter right next to him, he had no choice. He also assumed that the rest of his party would engage in battle right behind him.

The Krigesti warrior slowed down and struck with a war hammer. Salladar had hoped for an attacker with a sword. His armor was almost invincible against sword blows. A hit with the warhammer in the wrong place would be painful even through the armor. He threw his upper body back and went down on his left knee. The blow whizzed past his side at an angle. In one fluid motion, he swung the two-handed sword around and caught his opponent's overstretched arm. The cut went down to the bone, severing tendons and muscles. With a cry of pain, the Krigesti dropped the warhammer. The paladin took one hand from his two-handed sword and gripped the edge of the shield. A maneuver that would not work in the real world, but his character had increased his physical strength to far beyond normal human capabilities during character creation and his enhancements. With his feat of strength skill, he increased it even further for a moment and simply yanked the shield aside. Wielding it with one hand, he rammed the tip of the sword under the chin just above the armor into the neck of the completely surprised warrior. In the next action, he turned the warrior between himself and the crossbowman, who was already firing at him again. A bolt hit the dying man in the back and finished him off. Three spears flew over him, forcing the mage to use his magic for his own protection instead of throwing more fireballs. His comrades had finally found a position from which they could throw their spears without hitting him.

He grabbed the warrior's corpse by the collar with his left hand and stormed towards the crossbowman, using him as a shield. The latter dropped the unloaded crossbow in panic and reached for his short sword. Salladar threw the corpse at him and parried the mage's spell in the next moment. Together with his comrades, he made short work of the group and then looked around the battlefield.

Battles raged everywhere in small groups. The intervention of the Dryad Queen and her tree creatures had given them a brief advantage, but the Krigesti were already beginning to regroup everywhere. Salladar was looking for a leader. A commander. Or some kind of command structure. But he still couldn't see anyone giving orders. Even within the battle groups, he had never heard any commands. Did the Krigesti have communication artifacts to coordinate with? He tried to remember if they had ever found artifacts on the fallen enemies. He paused. He couldn't remember any dead enemies being searched so far. They hadn't gotten their hands on any opponents at all. Neither dead nor alive. Unusual. On the other hand, they had been fighting a positional battle so far, keeping their opponents at a distance. Most of them had been killed in ranged combat or with magic. But quite a few had also fallen in assaults. Where had the bodies gone? So far, he hadn't noticed them in the chaos. But had they really taken all their fallen with them when they retreated? Or had the defenders just not paid attention and buried the bodies with their own victims? On their side, only the NPC elves didn't disappear immediately, only to reappear at the spawnpoint a day later. The Krigesti consisted, at least as far as he had seen so far, almost exclusively of humans. With a few desert elven mages and the odd lizardman.

Several groups of heroes had already overtaken him and attacked enemies further away. His tactics skill alerted him to the fact that some of the foremost defenders were... disappearing. Not only was the counterattack stalling, something was killing his comrades faster than ever before during this siege. He raised his two-handed sword and gathered the fighters around him. Then he marched forward attentively. Two groups of opponents, still holding their tried and tested formation with a magical protective dome, retreated in front of them in order. He was taken aback. This had never happened before. These fanatics had never retreated before.

Just two hundred meters further down the gentle slope, shadows came into view just above the ground. Many shadows. Many sand-colored shadows. He cursed. The desert wolves had arrived.

"Form a defense formation! Get ready to fend off the wolves! Shield bearers, watch out for ranged fighters trying to get us while we're distracted."

Men and women with spears formed a ring around the mages, while Salladar took the lead in the formation. His two-handed sword was almost as good as the thrusting spears in terms of range. The mage Hodar turned to one of the spearmen: "Grab that tower shield there and cover me." Thus reasonably protected, he cast two spells. A slightly shimmering dome formed over Salladar and his group. The paladin nodded to him: "Very nice. I thought you couldn't cast protection spells anymore."

"Of course I know protection spells! But ours don't last nearly as long as Krigesti's. Or as good. It really pisses me off that they can mix divine and arcane magic like that. Divine magic is much more effective with protection spells. But arcane magic is better at attacking." As if to prove this, he gestured in the direction of a group of shield bearers shielding two mages running behind them. He pointed to the group with his staff and hand: "Power of earth and water!"

A muddy brown ball came out of the end of his staff, flew through the air and hit the ground right in front of the opponents. The ground splattered at the point of impact, but the whole thing looked rather puny. Salladar looked at him with a raised eyebrow, but the mage just held up his clenched fist with a grin and then unfurled his fingers every second: "One... Two..." The attackers had just crossed the point of impact when the ground exploded beneath them. Mud and chunks of stone crashed against the shield bearers from behind, sweeping the mages backwards off their feet. Where the Krigesti fell, they immediately sank knee-deep into a magical mud that quickly solidified again. A few spears and arrows quickly finished off the defenseless formation.

Salladar whistled, impressed: "You already have combo attacks?"

"I caught up with your level this morning. This time I've given myself a suitable advantage for working faster in the magic workshop. The whole thing took all the special skills I could choose when leveling. But now I can combine two elements of arcane magic. Delayed Exploding Mudball. Level 4 elemental combat spell with water and earth."

"You still need a sensible name for it."

A wolf came out from behind a nearby tree and jumped at Salladar. He wasn’t surprised. He held his blade in the middle of the expected trajectory and prepared to lunge through the shield. The wolf tensed his legs to leap... and then threw himself flat to the ground.

Magical energy crashed against the protective dome without warning. It glowed brightly for a moment, obstructing outward vision, then the protective spell dissolved into glowing sparks. More wolves jumped out from hiding places that Salladar had not noticed. Suddenly unprotected, he could only dodge one attack. A second wolf bit into his blade as he tried to hit it while jumping. Now the wolf that had thrown itself to the ground in front of him jumped after all. Salladar was hardly worried. His armor would easily protect him from animal teeth. The weight of the animal made him stagger back a step. He couldn't lift his sword while the other wolf was hanging from it. Something jumped against his side. When he turned around, he saw another wolf trying to gnaw through the armor. He ignored it and slammed his armored fist against the muzzle of the wolf still holding his sword in its mouth, "Let go!"

"Sally! The wolf is trying to get at the straps of your armor!" Hodar's shout made the paladin turn around quickly. At least he tried to. But the wolves had already encircled him too much. He could barely move. The wolf was too close to him, so he couldn't see it through his helmet. How was the animal supposed to reach the straps with its snout... He felt a tugging and quickly turned his upper body. A glance at his map showed him that the other opponents were advancing again. Nicely organized, while the formations of the defenders were thrown into complete disarray by the wolves. He took a deep breath: "Everyone, stand firm! The inhabitants of the forest are counting on us. We may waver, but we will not give way as long as one of us still draws breath! Tactics: Forest thunder in five! ... Four... Three..."

For a moment, the hail of spells, arrows, spears and bolts used to keep the enemy at bay died down. The Krigesti groups stood still in confusion. Only the desert wolves and opponents who were already in close combat were still fighting. The Krigesti groups hesitantly started moving again, as if in response to an inaudible signal, just as the short countdown ended. A wave of magic and projectiles swept across the battlefield as each mage used his strongest combat spell and each ranged fighter switched to magic arrows or used limited-use special skills.

Explosions kicked up dust and dirt. All the bushes and trees in the border area went up in flames. Flashes of flame vaporized a small pond. Fog and smoke filled the battlefield in one fell swoop. Zones of light and darkness were summoned. Even Salladar's map became useless, as it only gathered information from his allies. Something that none of his allies saw did not appear on the map.

The Krigesti saw just as little. All the groups retreated in order until they had a clear field of vision in front of them again. More explosions flashed in the wall of smoke, steam and illusions. The Krigesti waited. A minute passed, then two. Without any new spells, the battlefield became visible again. The archers strung their bows and waited for targets to become visible... to no avail. The front offered no targets. Not a single enemy was visible.

Hodar patted Salladar on the back encouragingly: "For a moment I thought the maneuver wouldn't work with the wolves. It would have been a real shame. If the Krigesti had attacked instead of retreating, they would have got us badly. After the volley, all our spellcasters are practically empty. I have just enough mana left for a single flame spell. Fortunately, most of the wolves were still just inside or in front of the fire zone and we were able to extinguish the rest quickly enough."

The paladin nodded as his gaze swept critically over the new line of defense. The defenders had retreated two hundred meters up the slope and entrenched themselves behind prepared barricades. The last NPCs had retreated as arranged and followed their families.

"Where is the Hamadryad?"

"Also on the way. A messenger came by earlier. He reported that she is conscious again. But completely distraught. She's moaning unintelligible things about the temple in the forest. I've sent a scout out to check it out. But you can see a column of smoke in that direction. I can guess what he'll find."

"Smoke... Yes, I see it. Crap. Then a few opponents got through after all."

"Is the plan still in place?"

Salladar nodded: "We'll hold the second line of defense to the last man. I've set the capital as my next spawnpoint. However, I won't be online until the earliest respawn. We're taking an exam at the end of the week, which I still have to prepare for. I'll be back in the tank on Saturday at the earliest."

"By then they'll have burned down the forest. Or whatever they're up to here. Opponents who don't say a word make me nervous. They're not quite normal."

"They must be using some kind of telepathy. Or their voices are too high or too low to hear. Remind me to get a monster trainer or druid to bring appropriate animals."

The mage looked thoughtfully at the slowly dissolving visual barrier. "You'd almost think they were a player faction. With a chat system, they could communicate inaudibly and it would explain why we're not finding any bodies."

"Can't be. Then we would get other system messages when we kill one. No chats are allowed outside of the Tactics skill functions either. Besides, I've never seen a corpse disintegrate. I paid extra attention with the last group. One of the shield bearers stuffed the fallen warrior into a bag. If they have such big bags of holding, we needn't be surprised that they don't run out of provisions. Before we fall, I'll try to loot another one."

"Too bad we can't continue to accompany the fugitives. By the time I get back, everything will be over here. I wonder if anyone will survive. If the Krigesti were able to burn down the temple, they may have blocked the escape routes too."

The mage spotted the first opponent peering through a cloud of smoke and struck him down with a flash of flame. Then he looked back towards the path where their allied NPCs had disappeared: "Maybe we should go after them and give them another escort?"

Salladar waved it off: "The quest is as good as lost. As the leader, I'll be punished for it. I'll lose a whole level! If there's a serious ambush back there, we'll both get killed and lose another one for the respawn. Without the chance to defeat a few more opponents beforehand. If there aren't any, they don't need us, if there are, we just go down with them. I'd rather fight here at the front and level up again. Maybe we can put the Krigesti to flight or create a situation in which a retreat looks honorable." He smacked his forehead: "Well, and I'm also the raid leader right now. I can't run away at all! Nobody else here has a tactical skill high enough to give commands across the entire front line."

Hodar nodded reluctantly and gave the fugitives one last look: "You're right. Then let's organize a glorious last stand."

"To all groups: Use magic sparingly until our mages are halfway recovered. Archers: Fire at everything in sight. Melee fighters: Only attack enemies that have overcome your barricade. This is the last sensible place to hold out. If we retreat from here, we will be overrun. So make sure this is a last stand that we will remember proudly for years to come!"