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The tropical surroundings had turned into a chaotic battlefield as two lifeless armies clashed against each other and had to contend with the rather unfriendly nature. Regiments of constructs and skeletal soldiers made of metal marched across the beach and jungle to crash against the ranks of shadowy soldiers, while the jungle seemed to come alive to snare soldiers from either side, though usually only long enough for the soldier to hack themselves free. Neither army seemed too fazed by losses either way, so no help was given to captured soldiers.
”Nice job daddy Arjuna!” The woman he’d come to know as Envy shouted excitedly as a storm of magic annihilated the ranks of the enemy forces.
“I already told you not to call me that!” Arjuna shouted back as he summoned more shadowy soldiers with the help of his spirit. As he summoned more, a wash of golden energy fell on them, increasing their abilities greatly, while a powerful aura also engulfed them, making them stronger still.
Theirs was an odd combination of skills and abilities but they had found a way to make it all work together. He could summon large numbers of soldiers made from pure shadow, although the strength of each individual shadow was inversely proportional to the number of shadows he summoned, while the one called Valor used his holy aura to turn them much stronger, while another new addition to the team, Helen, used her clerical abilities to buff them with more traditional holy spells, thus rendering the downside of summoning large numbers almost non-existent. They could essentially create an army out of thin air just by the three of them. In the meantime, the rest of their team performed the function of heavy hitters, taking out threats that the shadows could not deal with. The earlier storm of magic had been created by Envy and Hope to take out the backlines of the Netherworld forces, which had been raining magical arrows on them earlier.
It was a good thing that their tactic was so effective, as it basically created a stalemate where both sides had an army that never really died and stayed dead, turning it into an endless battle of attrition. They also created two very effective ‘anvils’, forces that tied down the enemy, while the ‘hammer’ struck at the important parts of the enemy. The difference was that their side had a much more effective ‘hammer’. The Oni who was called Kensei, and another of the new arrivals, a Holy Knight called Lancelot, sliced into the enemy ranks like the enemy wasn’t even there, while the magical group of Envy, Wisdom, and Hope kept raining death on the enemy elites and backlines.
Still, the whole thing would’ve been much harder if Karna wasn’t keeping the enemy leader busy. “Can you tell how my daughter is doing?” He asked, regretting the fact that his senses couldn’t quite reach the orbit where Karna was battling.
Just as he asked a question, a beam of sickly green energy was intercepted by one glowing with the power of the stars. “She seems to be doing well, don’t you worry.” The one known as Envy said with confidence. “We have our own battle to deal with, so let’s focus.”
Arjuna, and the other three new reinforcements, had joined together with the Team named Omega only a couple of days earlier. It had been nice to be reunited with Karna, although he couldn't help but be shocked at her rapid growth and new power. All his daughter's allies were extremely powerful. Still, it had been heartwarming for the few hours they'd gotten to catch up before they had been interrupted by the arrival of the Netherworld's first troops.
The world they were defending was far from an ideal battleground. The world was just as hostile to them as it was to the enemy, both flora and fauna attacking rather indiscriminately. They had no fortifications to speak of, and the world offered no natural defensive advantages. A few of the more important resource centers had protective magical shields, but those shields were not designed to withstand a prolonged siege. They were only strong enough to take a handful of spells from a nearby engagement. Thus, they were no use defensively. That's why their team had chosen a sort of defense-in-depth tactic. They had started the fight in orbit and had allowed themselves to be pushed back slowly, now fighting the enemy forces on the ground in a spot they had chosen beforehand as useless enough that it wouldn't matter if it was destroyed. A battle of this scale wasn't exactly great on the environment after all, especially with the spells and powers the Netherworld employed. The energy of death pervaded all of their actions, leaving behind devastated lands.
One of the benefits of their tactic was that they had managed to whittle down the numbers of the enemy during their slow retreat. Even if most of the run-of-the-mill troops would just get up again, the elites wouldn't as their team all had access to spells and abilities that could take down the enemies for good. That in turn reduced the strength of the grunts in the enemy forces as they no longer had the powerful elites buffing them. Now even the weaker troops were showing signs of not getting up again as the Netherworld army no longer had the elites supplying enough negative energy.
Another reason the enemy army was slowly being whittled down was the absence of their leader. The Overlord leading the enemies had been engaged by Karna in the very beginning, and unlike the rest of the army, the Overlord was not being allowed to progress down to the surface. That wasn’t just because of the tactical benefits, but also because Karna wouldn’t be able to use her full power on the surface without devastating everything around her.
The last of their team, a man clad in a dark cloak and armor you’d normally see on an assassin appeared behind the leading Elder Lich of the enemy army, before sinking his two swords glowing with golden power into the lich’s body. Immortals were notoriously difficult to permanently kill, undead immortals like the liches especially so, but this man was an expert in making sure that the rare times he appeared and struck, his target would stay down. He didn’t just look like an assassin, he behaved like one too, most of the time. The rest of the time he was a rather jovial scout with some of the best senses Arjuna had the pleasure of working with.
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He and the Dragonborn assassin had been drafted around the same time and had become fast friends, so it had been a relief when they had both been assigned to this team. Silvanus was very good at what he did, and he was pleasant company also. They had been assigned to the same team with Helen and Lancelot a little over a year ago, so they knew how to work together decently well. Arjuna wasn’t really that close with Helen or Lancelot, but the two devout people were competent, which was the most important thing at this moment.
“Now’s the time. Push our advantage! Put your backs into it!” Valor commanded. He wasn’t just shouting encouragements as his words worked as a trigger for a skill that filled all their bodies with holy power. Any fatigue was washed away, and they were strengthened significantly. Valor made for a great commander because just the buffs he provided made any army fight with at least twice the strength. He also had an eye for tactics, exploiting any opening, such as when he’d ordered their mage group to wipe out the exposed backline.
Arjuna increased the number of shadows being spawned from the darkness covering the ground like a layer of water. After he’d become an immortal, his abilities with shadows had developed into what he was told was called a Domain. Countless shadows crawled out from the ground as if emerging from a lake, grabbing at the feet of the Netherworld troops and dragging them into the shadows below, never to be seen again. Arjuna still wasn’t sure where all those enemies vanished to, but he didn’t honestly care too much either. It worked, and that was enough. Some of the enemies were too strong to be dragged down, but even some of the powerful enemies were either too damaged or spent to fight. He could see as a giant construct made of black stone was dragged under. Many of the constructs were almost immune to magic, but even that seemed to no longer be the case. However, he did remember a small group of much larger and more dangerous constructs staying behind to fight Karna and protect the Overlord.
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“You can feel it, can’t you?” Karna asked, as her wolf claws tore another Necrosphinx apart. The immensely powerful constructs were all but immune to magic, but they were like paper in front of the claws and fangs of the Beast of Apocalypse. Only one more construct of their kind remained, while three had already been torn to shreds. Even the regenerative abilities of the Overlord couldn’t save them anymore. “Your army is being wiped out as we speak.” Her voice wasn't coming out of her mouth, as the mouth of a wolf was hardly designed for speech.
The emotionless skeleton made of grey metal and clad in golden armor didn’t rise to her bait. “This is but a temporary setback. Our victory is inevitable. Even if you win today, tomorrow, and for the next thousand years, we will only return more powerful.” The rank 12 immortal warrior had been a powerful enemy. Unfortunately for the Overlord, Karna was pretty far from a standard rank 10.
The remaining Necrosphinx, a construct of black stone that combined the lower body of a lion and the torso of a vaguely humanoid being with enormous blades for hands, slashed down on Karna's fur-covered back. The blow was strong enough to shatter mountains, but it only glanced off the white fur of Celestium, the blade finding no purchase on the slippery and metallic strands. The only reason Karna hadn’t just torn the last construct apart without any care was the presence of the Overlord. Unlike the constructs, the Overlord did have the ability to wound her, proven by the small nick on one of her paws.
“Bold of you to assume that you will be around to return.” Karna released an eerie laughter that spoke of dark amusement.
“Flesh is fallible and always fails, but the chosen of the Phaeron will always return. Claim your hollow victory wolf. It will only be a temporary one. I will be back, and once the Phaeron hears of this, we will strike with the power of an exploding star.” The Overlord didn’t seem too phased even as the last Necrosphinx, a creature that would’ve been a powerful enemy to almost anyone, was torn to pieces with contemptuous ease.
"There are a couple of fundamental errors in your thinking. The first problem is, I'm not afraid of you returning in the distant future. Unlike you, I'm only getting stronger. I defeated you easily today, and it will only grow easier. The second problem…" Her eyes suddenly changed to those of the basilisk and tore the dark power animating the undead being from its metal shell, before she dispersed the soul and sent it to the cycle of reincarnation with a small extension of her new spark. Half of her spark dealt with souls, so it was an obvious power to have to be able to prevent the beings of the Netherworld from being drawn back to their sarcophagi in their tomb worlds.
“…eh, talking to the dead isn’t really something a sane person should be doing.” She had prepared a supposedly witty follow-up, but felt it was wasted with no one there to hear it.
She slowly descended down on the surface, noting the enemy army slowly being scattered to the winds as the sustaining power of the Overlord left them. “A rather successful battle!” Lancelot declared with a boisterous voice. An infectious smile spread on his handsome face.
Karna didn’t dislike Lancelot, but she suspected the man would likely be the source of some trouble. He clearly fancied himself as a ladies' man, and their team was filled with rather attractive ladies. Even discounting herself, the new cleric Helen was gorgeous in a very classical Godling fashion, Envy definitely had her charms, and Hope could look literally like anything she wanted. Even Kensei was far from unattractive. It was only a matter of time until Lancelot tried his luck, and it would be interesting to see how he dealt with rejection. And Karna was pretty sure he would be rejected by all the ladies. Even Helen had implied as much, even if the two were friendly. Lancelot didn’t strike her as the type that was used to rejection. Some pretty boys didn’t take it well.
"That went better than expected." Wisdom commented as he landed. "Of course, this is only the beginning, but a good sign nonetheless."
“I’m not sure if this even qualifies as a beginning. Even a standard Host team could’ve dealt with this enemy force, albeit not as easily as we did. After all, most teams don’t have access to a pocket army.” Valor commented. “Still, they didn’t even send a dozen immortals at us, even if their other numbers were notable. The Necrosphinxes that Wrath dealt with might have been a little problematic to some teams, but then most teams wouldn’t be made up of just rank 10 people at a location of this importance. Which reminds me. Weren’t we supposed to have other teams and some higher ranked immortals assigned here as well?”
“We were. Yet there aren’t any. Something must have happened.” Karna stated simply. That worried her just a bit. They would most likely manage, but the plan being altered like that was a little concerning.
“We can hold for now, but it would be preferable if those reinforcements showed up. We can gather a fair number of merits like this, but if there’s one thing the Netherworld is famous for, it’s persistence. This was just the first of their attacks, and now that it failed, they will send a stronger force.” Wisdom speculated.
“Glory and risk go hand in hand!” Lancelot declared boldly. “If we want to attain glory, then we must also bear the risks. I think we have what it takes to hold this world. At least we now have a little bit of time to prepare.”
“He does have a point there.” Valor conceded. “We shouldn’t waste this breathing room we’ve gained. While creating fortifications might be somewhat pointless, we know from experience that we can thin the enemy numbers with traps.”
“I’m assuming Gem and Zuellni haven’t located the source of the enemy forces yet?” Envy shifted the topic slightly.
"Not yet," Karna confirmed. "They are moving stealthily and avoiding notice. Still, it shouldn't take too long."
“I’m still not entirely sure why we’re even looking…” Helen said carefully.
“A strong offense is the best defense.” Envy retorted with a smirk.