Nothing really prepares you for seeing 800 people who all want you dead. I looked over the army that had arrived and I could feel my words getting trapped in my throat. The crowd of heavily armored, custom tailored warriors was beyond intimidating. The large man in black and crimson armor with a helmet and gloves that covered every inch of skin and any piece of humanity along with it made it exponentially worse. There were no [Fear] or [Intimidate] skills being cast. They were unnecessary. This was a show of force that did exactly what it was supposed to.

Armistice rode up the field on his horse, his three commanders behind him. I looked at Graham and gave a nod to the guard-rabbit in charge of the gate. The doors of the pully-controlled gate swung open and Graham and I rode out to meet him. As we got closer, I could see the full size of the High Lord. He was easily 6’6 and built like a buffalo. The man was a giant.

Graham and I reached the group of enemy commanders. “Afternoon, High Lord.”

The man’s armor clinked as he held out a hand. “Afternoon, President Lakewood.”

I took the handshake. “What brings you out here?”

“I assume you know why we’re here. Any chance you’ll surrender and let us in?”

“Any chance you’ll turn around?”

I could feel the man’s eyes sizing me up from underneath the mask. “You are signing your people’s death warrants.” The raspy voice indicated his age, but everything else about him indicated the strength of a young man.

“They are already signed.”

“No…they aren’t.” Armistice sat on his horse, his faceless mask facing me. “Only yours and your…council.”

This was the last chance. We could back out of this. I’d die. Graham would die. Cain would die. Theresa would die. Nick would die. In exchange, 100 others would live.

“The rest of your people will do well in our camps.”

Ah, well there it was. It helped. No moral dilemma for me this time around. “You know my answer to that.”

Armistice nodded. "I figured."

“So…how does this work, High Lord?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean…are you just going to charge at our walls and die?”

Armistice chuckled. “We have plans, just like I’m sure you do as well. Anything else you wish to say?”

“You brought this on yourself, Armistice.”

“You have it backwards.” With that, Armistice and his commanders rode back to their front lines.

Graham and myself rode back to our gates. Nick looked at me for the signal. I shook my head. I didn’t want to play our only real card this early. Who knew what sort of skills they were using? Every bomb might be defused if we launched it now. We had to wait until we could be sure it was the best time to use it.

When we got back inside, we braced ourselves for the attack. It didn’t come. After fifteen minutes, Graham and I headed up to the top of the wall to see what was going on. The lines of soldiers across the field were standing tall, as if they were waiting for something.

I looked at Graham, confused. “What’s going on?”

“They want you to strike first.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.” Graham looked over at Nick, then at me. “I think we should send a volley.”

I shrugged and stepped forward, drawing my pistol with a flourish and aiming it at the crowd. Their helmets obscured their faces, but none of them flinched from what I could tell. I decided to make the safe bet and aimed for a random soldier in the middle of the field. Whatever was going on, I needed to test it as safely as possible. I fired.

A faint yellow glow appeared just a few feet off their front line, right where my bullet’s trajectory would lead it. The glowing area of the bullet impact dissipated quickly. “What the hell?”

Theresa, positioned on the wall with the rest of the ranged fighters and healers, let out a gasp.

“What is it?” Graham turned to her.

“[Holy Shield].” Beads of sweat formed on her forehead.

“What?”

“That’s what [Holy Shield] looks like.”

Graham turned to her. “[Holy Shield] is for an individual.”

Theresa pointed at the warband. “The priests…in the back. They’re channeling it somehow.”

My mind raced as I took in the situation. It seemed that right as I did, Armistice raised his right hand high in the air before pointing it towards us. The formation began to advance.

“Fire!” [Holy Shield], like all channeled spells, drained energy with every second it was up and with every bit of impact it took. If we could hammer the shield down, it would break. We couldn't activate the bombs if we couldn't hit the ground.

On my order, a dozen guard-rabbits and a dozen ranged fighters shot off spells and bullets and arrows. Each one created a small pocket of golden light just a few feet in the front of the formation. Behind me, on the ground and unable to see past the gate, was Cain. “Jeremiah, what the hell’s going on?!”

Theresa answered for me. “They have a shield, Cain!”

“What?!”

The formation of 800 or more soldiers moved with steady steps towards the wall. They had started roughly 400 meters from the wall. That distance could be closed in just a few minutes of the slow and steady pace they were performing.

Graham grabbed my shoulder as I fired into the protective wall. “Can we activate the mines in front of the shield? Will it carry underground?”

“Maybe, but if it doesn’t we’re fucked.” I tried to wipe the sweat off my forehead. This was our one and only chance and I watching it slip from us.

“We need to hit the mines from the back. We need Lincoln.”

I nodded and gave the order to Pastor Gabriel, who was waiting for the order on the rooftop of one of the town’s buildings. The Pastor used [Shift Raven] and took off towards the tree line. “Why aren’t they shooting back?”

Theresa studied the enemy line. “I don’t think they can. I think there is a massive shield wall in front of their line, and it’s not one-way.”

“How the hell are they doing this?”

Theresa just shrugged. “Not sure how I’m supposed to know.”

“Damn it.” If they got too close to the wall, they’d walk straight past the mines. We needed Lincoln to hit them and we needed it now. If we didn’t activate those mines before it was too late, it was over for us.

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We watched, and we waited. The sixty seconds it took for a sign of life felt like an eternity. The massive formation got closer and closer and there was literally nothing we could do about it. Finally, we got our answer.

An flaming arrow appeared from the tree line in a wide arc. The explosion only needed to land somewhere and activate the mines behind the shield. The arrow came down in an arc like a gift from heaven, speeding towards the enemy line with tremendous speed. A dozen more flaming arrows came behind it. The flock of deadly avian bolts flew towards the explosives. Finally, we…

The arrows shattered one by one upon the invisible golden wall.

Graham let out a deep breath. “It’s a dome.”

Nick looked at us, “What does that mean? What does that mean?”

I looked at him. “Nick. [Pillar of Flame] inside the wall.”

He tried. “I can’t. Whatever that shield is doing…I can’t cast magic inside the dome. What does this mean? Why aren’t they getting tired? Shouldn’t their energy be drained?”

Theresa pointed to their priests, or at least what looked to be their priests. The Priests made up two lines in the back rank. At any one time, one line of Priests appeared to be casting. The other line seemed to be taking potions. The Market fees meant nothing to Armistice. The Liberty were rich. Their casters had near infinite energy. There was no stopping this.

I looked at Graham, a helpless look in my eyes. I had no plan. He was my stoic adviser, and I needed advice. We were outnumbered 10 to 1 and that was worse in ways I hadn’t even considered before. In a normal war, 800 men meant 800 guns. Here, 800 men meant 3,200-4,000 skills. These skills could be combined and manipulated. They could be utilized to the best of their ability. The scale of power was exponential. “What do we do?”

Graham took a deep breath in. “We don’t do anything, Jeremiah.” He gave a smile. “You just do your best to keep everyone alive and happy, yeah?”

I cocked my head to the side. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Graham gave a faint whistle, the clopping sound of horse hooves echoed down the streets below. Graham headed down the stairwell to the floor, patting his horse on the neck. “Good girl, Gretchen. Come on, baby. Let’s do what we shoulda done in Albany.”

Nick kept looking between me and Theresa and Graham. “What the hell is he doing?”

I finally realized the answer. “Theresa…[Holy Shield] him. I don’t care how much energy it takes…keep the shield up. We’ll use a stamina potion on you.” I watched Graham clap Cain on the shoulder and say something to him.

Theresa gave a nod.

Nick grabbed my shoulder. “I don’t understand. What is he doing?”

I shrugged him off. “Keep firing at the wall, Nick. No reason to make this easy for them.”

Down below, Graham gave the order for the guard-rabbit to open the gate. When the gate opened, I saw the opposing line flinch a fraction of step. When a single Samurai rode forward in an old Sheriff uniform and on a horse that was born before the system, it had to have been at least a little off-putting.

Graham hit his spurs and the horse bounded towards the line like the top horse in the Kentucky Derby. Gretchen moved faster than I had ever seen a horse move before. It took only an instant for the horse to break the magic wall and for Theresa’s [Holy Shield] over Graham to crack.

Graham was immediately hit with several dozen fireballs, arrows, and other attacks. A platoon of melee warriors came to finish the job. Armistice seemed to be the only one to notice that Graham did not bring a weapon, nor any gear. Graham had only brought a single item. As his profile went red, the lit stick of dynamite rolled on to the field. I watched with horror as Armistice seemed to vanish from existence just before the bombs went off.

—————————

Tikan hissed as the explosion rocked the tunnel expanse. He had had Termite scouts positioned south to inform him of the battle. It seemed that they were not needed after all. With a series of ferocious clicks, Tikan tunneled onward.

—————————

The explosion was incredible. It seemed I had made the right call about bombing the line from the front mines. The explosion hit the holy wall and simply went upwards. The dome became their cage. The orange fire of the mines inside their shield flew up the sides of the dome, smoke and ash filling the top. For a tenth of a second, it looked like a horrible snow globe.

When the shields dropped, the smoke shot towards the clouds and the fire seemed to spill out like water onto the field. I looked at the men, giving the order and bolting down to my horse. “GO! GO! GO! NICK! EVERYTHING YOU GOT, BROTHER!”

Nick gave a nod and sent [Pillars of Flame] over the field.

I hit Cain on the shoulder with a grin as I adjusted my hat. “Let’s get it.”

Cain knocked on his own helmet before giving the signal to the 40 rabbits and 6 other human players that sat at his command. Jackson and Elsa nodded at me as our horses took off towards the shattered lines. As I emerged past the gate, I saw a dozen dire wolves coming down from the tree line, hooded riders guiding them towards the kill zone.

The battlefield was catastrophic. It was impossible to tell how much damage had been done to the enemy, but this was our chance and we had to hope and pray that it had been enough. I rode my horse forward, finding my first target and firing several shots out. The man’s profile appeared.

Terry B. - Level 24 Knight

The profile was already red when I fired. The profile was dead afterwards.

Cain wielded his blade and began to hack and slash at the men around him. From behind us, arrows and fireballs rained down on the crowd. From in front of us, arrows and wolf howls egged us onwards.

A single Red Liberty soldier speared me in the side. As I screamed out in pain, I could feel the healing from Theresa and Bailey filling my body. I aimed my pistol and fired a [Multi-Shot] into the man’s face from atop my horse. 3 critical hits and the soldier was dead. “They are all wounded! Quickly! Before they heal!”

A fiery phoenix descended on the field. Nick’s summoning had gotten better. This phoenix seemed to be at least twice the size of its original form. The bird glided along the sizzling prairie, finding its target and tackling it like a falcon receiving a treat. As a Priest stood to heal the victim of Nick’s bird, I took the opportunity and landed several shots into the caster. The Priest went down and the soldier shortly after.

All seemed to be going well until a black and crimson blur appeared next to one of the wolf-riders who had closed the distance on the field. Armistice had appeared out of nowhere. He swung his sword with a ferocious speed, sending the man flying off his wolf. The man hit the ground where two Red Liberty soldiers finished him. Armistice turned, finding another target before vanishing and reappearing again. My jaw dropped. He was fucking teleporting.

The battlefield became embroiled in a game of tag. Armistice began to take out men one by one, and slowly. I watched as a 4th wolf-rider went down. We couldn’t catch him. Around us, the wounded soldiers finished off their health potions. The drained healers finished off stamina potions. The wounded commanders began to take stock of the situation. We were losing our ground.

Elsa used [Stealth] to appear behind one of their Captains. I watched as she executed the man swiftly. In response, several fire spells hit her in the chest. The only thing that saved her was Theresa’s nick of time [Holy Shield]. Theresa and Bailey were our only two healers of significant level. The others were just shy of useless. They couldn’t maintain their energy forever, even with the two potions we afforded them.

I was shocked when a black and crimson monstrosity suddenly appeared in front of my horse. My mount reared back and fell over, landing on its side. I tried to slip my trapped leg out from underneath the horse. I failed and realized that, even in a game world, a horse was still a horse.

Armistice stood over me, blade in hand. He gave a roar as he began to bring the blade down. I kept my eyes open. If I was going to die, I was going to face it like a man.

I didn’t die.

A massive explosion of dirt and mud appeared from underneath both of us. I was flung backwards, falling the equivalent of several stories and rolling across the field. I looked up, my heath low, to see Level 16 creatures emerging from the ground. The white insects charged onto the field, but they did not charge at me. They didn’t charge at Cain. They didn’t charge at the rabbits. They had one type of target and those targets had all decided to put on a gorgeous, uniform set of armor to be easily identified.

The swarm emerged. Hundreds of Termites appeared and began to attack the Liberty. One Level 16 Termite was nothing to a Level 25. Hell, 10 Level 16 Termites might not even be a challenge. However, against wounded and tired enemies who were facing attacks from every direction possible from an assorted and ragtag group of combatants with various and unpredictable skills…it was a death sentence.

The Termites began to bite and tackle. Balls of acid were spit across the line. Liberty soldiers would find themselves avoiding the fiery phoenix of doom one second, and buried underneath the chittering bugs the next. They panicked.

I grabbed a health potion from my inventory and chugged it, standing up and drawing my pistols. I found a target and shot. I threw my [Ranger’s Mark] on another and fired again. As the enemies began to retreat, I used my [Cover Fire]. Dozens of bullets left my pistols in near-machine gun fashion, riddling the bodies of the fleeing attackers. Armistice had vanished, but the others had not.

As we began to push the offensive, a large termite-slug hybrid spoke to me. “Hello…little…human.”

“Why did you help us?”

“I’ll…want…new…deal.”

I nodded. “Anything.”

Tikan gave off a furious click and two more tunnels erupted. Dozens more of the Termites appeared in front of the retreating soldiers. The men and women of Red Liberty fled for their lives as Termites pursued them. I turned to see Cain busy stabbing his blade into unconscious bodies on the sizzling field.

I ran over to him. “What are you doing?”

Cain looked at me through the thin slit in his helm. “Ending the threats.”

I almost stopped him. This was wrong. This wasn’t how people were supposed to act. This probably broke more than one rule of the Geneva Convention. My thoughts went to Graham, who had turned into what was essentially a suicide bomber. Nothing about this was right. This may not have been how people were supposed to act, but this was how we had to act.

It was a new world, and we were going to adapt or we were going to die.