Chapter 22: Fifth night is approaching, unexpected message!

As the evening was approaching, Xhemile and her subjects started to prepare against the hordes of desert dogs. They crafted more javelins and arrows, as well as some bows for subjects who wanted to try archery. Xhemile also received a beautifully crafted bow made by Marwa and a few mounted archers. It was a small short bow, but was quite powerful when Xhemile tested it with the newly made arrows against a wooden target. They also gathered in the main hall of the castle to eat meat with dates in different combinations. The morale of Xhemile’s subjects was heightened due to the addition of some delicious fruits to the meat.

Soon the evening approaches and the sun was sinking into the horizon as the moon was rising on the other side.

{[Lords and Ladies, the fifth night is there. Please try to survive!

Elite monsters are now in between the others!]}

Xhemile sighed at the message and gathered her subjects in front of the castle to say a few words.

“Today, monsters will once again try to breach our shield. We will slaughter as much as we can, so they will know our might! Now my subjects spread out! Infantry front and archers in the back! Cavalry try to pick of any stragglers and try to stay within the protection barrier. Do not try to attack the alpha as it is too strong and probably faster than your horses! Now march forward!”

“For our queen! Protect the castle and crush our enemies!”

Marwa shouted and suddenly a bright light appeared on her spear, enveloping every subject present.

[Commander Buff applied: For the queen!

Effects: Subjects will exhaust 15% slower and deal 10% more damage. Agility is increased by 20%.]

Xhemile was surprised by the sudden buff and her subjects quickly took in their positions.

As the moon was fully visible, the ground started to tremble and thousands of howls were heard in the distance. First the alpha once again showed its ugly face, it grinned towards Xhemile as many desert dogs stormed against the barrier. The desert dogs stuck by the barrier were met with javelins, spears and arrows of her subjects. The alpha lost its confident grin as it suddenly dodged an arrow which would have pierced its eye. Xhemile cursed quietly. It then ran towards the barrier to somehow drag one of her subjects outside but, every time it came into range to control the dogs in front of her subjects, it was attacked by arrows or javelins which it must dodge. It growled in frustration as it couldn't get into range and had to dodge constantly. Finally, it lost its patience and tried to directly attack Xhemile, but only narrowly dodged one of her javelins. Frustrated and tired from dodging, it made an error and was rewarded by an arrow shot from Xhemile piercing its flank and injuring it. It howled in pain and left her range of attack only to look at her with hate filled eyes and then disappearing into the desert.

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“Goddess, damned coward, this one.”

Xhemile cursed.

She then resumed to practice her archery skills to hunt for a few elite monsters. The elite desert dogs were bigger than the others and were easily spotted in the mass of smaller dogs. They were smarter and tougher to kill than the standard dogs but still weaker than the alpha. Xhemile didn't know why they were here and openly showing themselves in the mass, they were easy targets for the archers. She didn't complain and targeted then with her bow and arrows. After a while she ran out of arrows and javelins, she sighed and switched to her spear, joining the frontline with her subjects. Other archers also joined as they too ran out of arrows and finally everyone was fighting in the frontline. Xhemile felt a steady stream of pings in her system, informing her of her subjects kills, which she muted as it was increasingly irritating her. Soon enough the sun started to rise again and the dogs started to retreat. The stragglers which were left behind, were killed by the cavalry units.

Xhemile felt the exhaustion washing over herself and went directly, like many subjects, towards the bathhouse to clean of the sweat and blood of the dogs. She decisively ignored the system notifications and washed herself. She ignored the admiring stares of her subjects and soon was inside her chamber, where her body was asleep even before her head hit the pillow.

After a nap, she felt much better and stretched her muscles. She opened the system to look at summary of last night.

{[Notification:

[You have slain 103 Rank 0 desert dogs.]

[You have slain 74 Rank 1 desert dogs.]

[You have slain 23 Rank 1 elite desert dogs.]

[Your subjects have slain 764 Rank 0 desert dogs.]

[Your subjects have slain 303 Rank 1 desert dogs.]

[Your subjects have slain 51 Rank 1 elite desert dogs.]

[Gained lord power.]

[Gained 10 unknown blueprints.]

[Gained 1 special blueprint.]

[Gained 1 wish blueprint.]

[Gained 3 class change scrolls.]

[You leveled up to level 5.]

[Subjects Nane, Nanu and Nour leveled to level 4]

[Subject Neeth leveled to level 5.]

[Subject Njoud leveled to level 5.]

[Your remaining subjects reached level 6 (110x), level 10 (9x) and level 3 (2x).] [Do you want to rank up your subjects?] [Yes/No]}

Xhemile gained much this time and also promoted her subjects to the next rank. She also didn't want to look inside the warehouse as it was once again filled with desert dog materials. She set up the market again to sell the huge amount of meat, but still held onto the other half for later uses or trading with her alliance partner. She also noted that she didn't receive any messages from her so Xhemile assumed she must be fine after this night. Suddenly her thoughts stopped as the system announced itself.

{[DING! You have all survived the fifth night!

Today a special event will start! All lords will be teleported to other areas where you must compete against each other for special rewards! Alliances will be on the same team and it is recommended not to attack the own alliance! Monsters will also be in the challenge!

Notice: Death in the challenge will not result in real time death, but a reduction of protection time from the barrier! (Death will result in 3 days reduction.)

You all have 3 hours to prepare and the challenge will be held for 3 days, where no monsters will attack and the barrier will not deplete in energy, so the castle will still be protected for 5 days if you return victorious without penalty.

Good luck!]}

“Shit...”