3 cases of air sickness, 7 on the verge of joining them. The Shield of Paroxysm was not a state of the art vessel like the Avalon and was also much smaller. This left much to be desired in comfort but despite it, they all continued to wear smiles.

The Shield met its destination without incident regardless of those who were sick. Firing anchors and reducing its magical upward thrust, she lowered herself to the ground allowing those onboard to disembark.

The Shield was not a combat vessel and would be no help to them now. It had cannons but should they be used, it would eventually run out of ammunition. Those weapons were meant for defense should something dare approach it.

Letting her feet touch the ground, Mirajia was about midway amongst the ranks. When they were all on the ground, they moved out.

At the center of the formation was a beast tamer and his huge rockworm. It wasn’t the fastest but reliable for digging and carrying large amounts. He had another but it was hard to see. Frost bees were like that as their boddies allowed allot of light to pass though them. If you didn’t look carefully for the distortion, you might miss them.

To the front were the tanker classes, warriors with shield or combat magicians with defensive spell augmentations. Some of those tankers were mixed with the entire group as a precaution but next were the ranged fighters made of cannoneers, rangers and magicians. Growler was midway between and tank and an attack so he was found near the front.

Everyone now out of the ship, they began.

“Cannoneers, wide spread, maximum range to the front.”

The cannoneers took the barrel like weapons they held under their arms and began to charge them. Mana in the air flowed towards their weapons, making them glow. What was around 30 seconds later, successive booms could be heard as the cannoneers were pushed back a few feet while launching their projectiles.

Unlike magician classes, cannoneers could display their power regardless of range. Magicians controlled devastating magic but as they applied it over greater distances, saw that power harmlessly dissipated and highly wasteful. Cannoners locked the mana they collected in their projectiles and delivered it to their intended target giving them one of the higher ranges. Archers had the same problem as magicians in that regard for obvious reasons.

Hideous screams were heard in the distance.

A random member yelled. “Hostility registration confirmed. We have 64 small targets, 12 medium, and 1 Large.”

Growler barked commands.

“Cannoneers, magicians, thin them out. Archers, wound the larger targets. Melee and tanks, hold the line and deal with the small fry. Have the rock worm dig in and spit out some rocks for earth mages. Main healers, prioritize the tanks, secondary, focus on minor injuries and status conditions. Those who can, prepare buffs.”

The cannoneers began a slow charge, magicians began to chant for large area attack magics, and archers knocked their arrows. Some players glowed as buffing magic took affect. The rockworm was already in the ground, more than happy to stay out of the fight. The ice bee was… somewhere… though that was ok because its job was entirely to protect its master.

It began.

Mirajia quickly released her spell along side others that did the same and they struck, hard.

Magic, given the elemental forms of lightning, fire, earth, water and many others flew as a small army of black slimy salamanders began passing the tree line. Cannoneers released their own volley shortly after and together they made many of the salmanders fall on the spot and succeeded in their task of thinning the herd. Still, there were more and they kept coming. Regardless of broken limbs, protruding bones or burning flesh, they were monsters and they would come.

They shrilled in defiance of the first attack and as if hearing that call, the medium sized monsters emerged, calling for the archers to take action. Arrows flew at their marks, trying to hit the eyes and anything else they would expose.

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These medium monsters were much large, reaching almost 20 ft tall compared to the 4 ft tall minions in front of them. Their skin was slightly lighter than their brethren and showed portions of their bodies to be covered in harder skin.

All Range capable units kept firing as they got closer. There was a large bang and audible grunts soon heard as the small ones struck the defense line then much silence as melee players got involved to reduce the strain on tankers. Soon the small ones fell but the medium creatures continued to approach, albeit somewhat blind and gimped from the archers efforts.

They struck the defense line but were too worn out and injured. Concentrated fire from all players quickly brought them to a quick demise.

But these were just the warm up as trees could be heard falling over. A king salamander poked its head from out of from the treeline, the head alone was just as big or bigger then the medium sized salamander with the rest of its body equally enlarged. Simply calling it massive did not do it justice.

Growler barked out new orders. “Cannoneers fall back, switch the smoke bombs and blind it. Magicians as well, stay out of harms way and bombard it with attack spells. Tankers on the limbs, don’t let them move and build up speed and that includes the tail. Melee, do damage from behind the tanks and don’t get caught in an attack. All those that can heal, heal. I need two combat healers at my side with quick heals, I’m going in.”

With his spiel, Growler broke through the tanks and was quickly joined by two of the more well-known healers. The rest of the players quickly changed their positions and did their jobs.

Miraja’s healing was limited but as one of those that could, did what she could and joined the ranks of attacking magicians to perform her chants.

“Tranquil spirit of water, show thyself and heal my allies, lesser aura of healing water!”

A mist of water swirled around Miraja and began covering the field. She could do nothing else while this spell was in affect, she needed to keep it supplied with her mana or it would stop.

Meanwhile Growler met the head and struck, stopping the monster in its tracks as it no longer found a need to move forward. It portrayed sharp teeth and snapped down in an attempt to finish him but only found dirt as Growler dodged.

That pissed it off but the tanks were already in place when it tried a second attack of stomping. It was like dragging its feet through mud and useless for anything but a slow forward march. Its tail was definitely problematic but the tanks in the rear were managing. Some resorted to jumping on it while others kept the shield sturdy to stop it from moving left and right, it was working, for now.

Growler and his two healers kept at it, they took some close calls but had yet to die.

With a final leap, Growler struck it between its eyes in one final downward thrust. It jerked, and then died.

With this, the fight was over.

“Casualty report!” Growler barked.

“None!” another barked back excited and happy.

“Good.” Growler wheezed out, letting his romper fall to the ground and his body rest.

Mirajia kept her aura active as there were still those showing damage on their bodies but there was no one in a dangerous state.

The rock worm came out of the ground and there was a glimpse of the ice bee nearby. People gathered around it, taking food, water and medical supplies from the bags it carried.

A few players with the ability to laid out some blankets and took the roll of distributing it. Growler was one of the first to be treated and then went back to talking.

“Alright, everyone who needs it, gather around and get what you need. Back off when you do and after everyone is done and ready, were doing this again.”