Zyrus took the dragon of war to sail straight to the core of the scarecrow island. The rest followed his arrangement and spread out to encircle the whole field. Although the radius of more than a dozen kilometers was huge, they had 1000 ships after all.
And all of them were inlaid with various magic formations, not to mention the first batch which was forged with the essence of Nuckelavee. Their speed and sturdiness were enough to sustain the journey.
*Bang*Bang*Bang*
The frost cannons rained down on the grassy fields and froze the slithering worms. At the same time, the torpedoes fried off the bugs that were swimming towards the longboats.
*Shiiu*Shiiu*Shiiu*
But the main attacking force was still the ballistas. They were pitiful in numbers against the flying hordes of insects, but each arrow took more than a hundred lives before slowing down.
‘This is the true power of humanity,’
Zyrus observed everything from the sky. Only he, Franken, and 400 Aydahar Cavelier were on the ship. None of them had to lift a finger to withstand the first wave of the attack.
Magic formations, the ships’ ability to devour blood and recover, and the numerous weapons lessened their losses to the bare minimum. Even before his regression, he knew that regardless of his or other elites’ strength, there was no way they could protect the millions of weak humans.
Talent in the technological field, passing down generations of knowledge, and last but not the least, their large numbers. These were the cornerstones for the survival of many humanoid races.
*Kiiikikiki*
*Kihihihi*
‘And that’s the weakness of races like that…’
Zyrus looked down at the ten sources of eerie cackling. The sanctuary was after all a fair place. None of the races had an absolute advantage over any map.
At the same time he was observing the island on Franken’s back, the players received a new text.
[Pugalo has awakened its subordinates]
[Defeat the 10-boss level scarecrow to progress in the field raid!]
[Caution! The island territory had been placed under lockdown. No one can enter or exit so long as the raid is active]
“Let’s get closer to them.”
“Helping them already?” Franken asked while slamming his hooves on the clouds. The fluffy clouds behaved like a springboard and sent the duo hurling towards the other side.
“Not at all. I just want to see how they'll deal with it.”
Below, they could see the players preparing for the boss monsters. 10 thirty-meter-tall scarecrows were taking shape in the directions he had mentioned.
Zyrus had told them about the spawn points in order to save time. However, there was a crucial detail that he left out.
*Bang*Shiiiu*Bang*
Volleys of white cannonballs and dark arrows were fired at the emerging boss monsters.
“What…!”
“How can that be?”
Everyone was totally confounded. None of their attacks even scratched the yellow-brown straws of the scarecrow.
“Hehehe…look at those punks. They’ll finally realize what it means by ‘Weapons of War.’”
“Mhm. Sure brings back bad memories,” Zyrus smirked alongside Franken as he looked at the players. There were big differences between each ring of the sanctuary.
From the first ring, they acquired the basic system. From second, they got classes and detailed status windows. Similarly, the third ring would give other functions related to large-scale wars.
Just think about it– there were thousands to even a million players fighting in a war. With the current system, just how many damage numbers would there be? The players would barely see what’s in front of them, much less fight.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
The whole idea behind the damage numbers and weak points was to train the regular players about how to fight. From the third ring, they’d get the option to switch between bars and numbers for Hp, MP, stamina, etc.
The neat thing was, the players could group things to get the general bars. For example, one could see the army’s health and energy bar, a castle’s hp, a cannon’s hp and mp levels…etc. At the same time they’d also learn what could and couldn't be targeted by the weapons of war.
*Kihihihi*
“Tch… they wasted all that time and now it’s done transforming.”
“Well, they’re newbies at the end of the day. This should make them realize the issue.”
And indeed, Zyrus was correct. Ria and the other leaders quickly realized their mistakes and anchored their ships near the farms. All of this happened in less than a minute, but it had huge implications.
1 minitue–60 seconds. It was enough time to surround the emerging boss monsters. Now, not only did the players have to fight the emerged boss, they had to deal with the bugs that spawned on the farm as well.
“Shouldn’t you say something?”
“Nope. The scarecrows aren't that strong, just annoying. We’ll at most lose a couple thousand.”
Zyrus was prepared to suffer some losses to train his army. Losing thousands of players was common in war. Anything less than that should be called a one-sided massacre and not a war.
[Prairie Fire]
[Trickster Turtle]
Jacob and Shi kun started the counterattack on their farms.
[Creed of Sacrifice]
[Weight of The Heart]
Strongfist brandished his gauntlets while Kyle activated his mask. Lauren, Druv…everyone used their items and self-created skills to start off the battle.
They weren’t like Zyrus who had a unique class. Even against monsters who had an upgrade at lv 40, the Balaur summoner was just as strong. The players had it much harder as many of their skills were restricted against the boss monster.
*Kikikiki*
“Damn it, don’t engage with the boss monsters unless you’re in the elite squad. Clear the field first and wait for further orders,” Ria’s shout organized the players on all battlefields. Just based on their commanding ability alone, she was many times superior compared to Zyrus.
The scarecrows waved their gigantic limbs and slammed here and there. The hands made from dried grass didn’t have any weight to them, but the moment a player was touched, their entire body would be shredded apart like paper.
Only Shi kun, Druv, Kyle, and Strongfist dared to attack the field boss head-on. Lauren and Jacob used their long-range attacks while Ria fought with her elite team and clairvoyance.
“Let's go and finish the remaining ones!”
“Watch a while longer. After that, you deal with one, the knights will deal with one, and leave the last for anyone who has the guts to try it.”
“Got it.”
The results thus far were good considering they were attacking a higher-level area. Nonetheless, the true fight had just begun.
‘Let me see how far you’ve grown,’
Zyrus kept his eyes focused on the main players. He knew very well that none except him had the power to deal with the field boss. But as his subordinates, they should be able to deal with the normal boss-level scarecrows.
*Raaaaahhhh*
The scarecrow let out inhumane screams once its HP went below 50%. As if it was a signal, the rest also went into the second phase regardless of their remaining HP.
“Stand back and use all defensive formations. Do not engage unless I order,” Ria commanded once again while retreating. As they say, once bitten, twice shy.
The players had learned the difference between below and above lv 40 monsters. At the same time, they also realized that the 10 boss monsters and the field boss were interconnected.
This raid was different from the ones they had been through.
‘Here it comes,’
Zyrus raised a mana barrier around him and Franken, and at the same time, all 10 scarecrows used the sole 2 skills they had.
[Splinter Storm]
[Rotten Lands]
Every blade of grass shattered in an instant. The green vegetation turned into yellowish-brown splinters and shot towards the players.
“AH-”
“Watch out!”
No one was able to escape from the hail of splinters. But instead of being scared, they were just confused.
The splinters lodged into their skin dealt no more than 10 damage. The power of the boss monster’s skill was too lacking compared to its initial momentum.
“Protect your skin with mana. These splinters are hard to get rid of,” Ria was the first who realized the issue. Removing splinters was an easy thing to do with mana, but the ones created from skill were different.
It was a pity that her warning came a tad bit late.
“It-it’s rotting!”
“What do we do?”
The players panicked as the skin around the splinters started to darken. None were afraid to cut off the infected area, but this time, they didn’t dare to make any rash action.
“Cut off the infected area and use your potions. We can afford them as long as we kill these bastards.”
“Hahaha…well said. Let’s go,” Zyrus beckoned Franken and descended from the sky. He was satisfied with the players' performance.
It was inevitable to make mistakes and be flustered when encountering new scenarios. What mattered was their ability to keep calm and obey the orders. The deciding factor was the players’ courage and trust in their leaders– enough to carve out their flesh without making a fuss.
Every other skill can be developed as long as they’re willing to learn. Only after going through countless battles like these would the players gain sufficient experience.
*Clank*
“Alright, I’m leaving.”
Zyrus nodded at Franken and summoned his abyssal legion to be on standby.
“Listen up, it’s up to you to deal with that.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,”
400 knights set off towards the last boss monster.
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