Elios and Silvera's armies arrived just in time to see a terrifying sight. The dropped items of many players that were killed on sight, and their "ghosts" which were small projections of their bodies where they had died. Usually, Players would respawn where they died, but if they were inside a type of battlefield, dungeon, or enemy territory, they would get teleported back to their home base, the territory of their guilds.
So hoping for these people to rejoin them in battle was futile, especially with the terrifying penalties that dying on guild wars or against high level bosses gave, such as decrease of all stats for 24 hours, losing some of their items by participating in a PVP battle at the same time, and also sometimes their levels going down.
Beginner players had it easy with lesser penalties, but as Players went up in their Level, penalties became almost cruel. Perhaps it was to incentivize party play and to not just suicide themselves constantly. Based on this, for Elios and Silvera, these people were as good as dead for the next 48 hours, or even a week if they received too big of a penalty.
"T-This is...!" Elios muttered. "What in the world?!"
"Impossible! The Red Knights are our strongest members and they were all ravaged by the Ents?!" Silvera cried.
"HUMANS!" Roared the Ents, rushing towards them.
"Begone from our lands!"
"Disappear!"
"You shall not pass!"
And the worst part, the Ents themselves. Known as pacifist, sluggish, and sleepy entities, nobody could had ever thought these NPC would become such war-driven warriors once they were given the chance.
Their enormously tall sizes, most of them being over 25 meters of height, quickly overwhelmed the smaller Players, their insanely high stats also helped of course, and a boost to all their skills ended being the cherry on top.
CLAAAAASH!
BAAAAAM!
TRUUUUUM!
Kicks, punches, and piercing wooden spears crushed dozens of Players in front of Elios and Silvera. The two gritted their teeth as they saw the massacre unfold.
"S-Shit! We can't just retreat now! That'll hurt my pride too much!" Elios roared. "FUCK!"
"Dammit! Was Planta aware we were coming?! And how come a Level 81 Player has this many powerful NPC subordinates?!" Silvera cried.
Both of them kept themselves close as they fought together against the incoming monsters' swarms that kept appearing. They started slicing apart some of the Ents legs and arms, managing to incapacitate them while making their way deeper into the forest. Even as they crushed their heads the Ents wouldn't die, and their cores were too hidden underground for them to try to find them.
"If we can at least reach Planta and burn her with the Phoenix Flames we prepared, it could work!" Said Silvera.
"Yeah, it's our only chance- Eh?!"
CRAAAAAASSSHHHH!!!
However, in front of the two, Gaston fell like a meteor into the floor. His entire body was covered on many wounds, and he was bleeding all over. If it wasn't for his [Berserk's Last Stand] Skill which allowed him to live even when his HP went down to zero by sacrificing MP and Satiation, he would had already died.
"G-Gaston?!" Silvera cried, rushing towards him, and picking out a Potion to heal him.
"Unggh... R-Run..." Gaston groaned.
"SILVERA!" Elios tried to stop her, but it was too late.
A gigantic axe fell down over her and Gaston, slicing them both apart into two halves.
BAAAAAAAMMMMM...!
Their bodies quickly dissipated into particles of light, leaving plenty of valuable items behind.
Ding!
[Guild Master: Gaston384] has Died.]
[Guild Master: Silvera1234] has Died.]
[84 other Guild Members have died.]
"N-No..." Muttered Elios, stepping back as he saw a Giant Ent King in front of him. "Shit, SHIT!"
He quickly started running away, only to find his entire army being ravaged by gigantic and terrifying beasts, a goat, an enormous crow, a purple serpent, a silver scaled dragon, a mimic, and even a mass of sharp vines.
"Fuck! If I die here I'm going to drop so many items!" He cried, looking at the red jewel, the crystalized phoenix flame. "At least... Maybe if I throw this here..."
He smiled as he held the crystal, only to find his two legs being wrapped around by sharp vines.
"UAAAGH!"
Elios saw as a monstrous mass of vines with a gigantic flower with sharp jaws giggled as he glanced at him, maliciously.
"Gyehehehe..."
"G-Get away!!!" Elios unleashed countless spear attacks and magic, activating defensive magic as well as many other skills.
CLASH! CLASH! SLAAASH!
He freed himself from the monster plant, but quickly realized it had yet to die. In fact it was completely fine, beginning to chase him around. As he ran and ran, many other shadows appeared around him. They were the Guardians of Yggdrasil, the Familiars of Planta.
"Meeeehheee!"
A giant goat landed on the ground right in front of Elios, her golden horns beginning to glow brightly as they unleashed zaps of lightning against him!
CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! SPAARK!
"UAAAGGGH...!"
Elios took several hits and evaded a few with his high-speed build. However, that only prolonged his suffering as giant sharp black feathers fell over his body, slicing it apart!
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
"Unnggh?!"
And then, a giant walking mushroom showed up at his left, opening its jaws and swallowing him whole.
"Gulp... Gyogyoh..."
As he was melting inside the mushroom's stomach, Elios started doubting his life choices, and learned a valuable lesson, to never judge a Player by their Level...
When Gaston, Elios, and Silvera were revived once more, they arrived inside their guild quarters. All the alliance members were appearing one after the other in the building, lamenting their lost.
Gaston in specific was furious.
"FUCK!!! What kind of fucking cheat was that?! She's a cheater! She hacked the fucking game!!!" Gaston cried, hitting the floor, and shattering it apart. "And.. I lost my damn sword! It was a fucking Mythic Item! A-And I lost 10 Levels?! AAAAGGGGHHHHH!!!"
"E-Elios! You're back..." Silvera said. "I only lost my armor but is the Crystalized Phoenix Flame fine?! You didn't lose it, right? Right?!"
"A-Ah..." Elios checked his Inventory.
The crystal was not there.
"...Fuck."
"YOU FUCKER! Don't you know how much it fucking cost?!" Silvera cried, beginning to hit the ground like Gaston.
"I-I'm sorry..." Elios sighed.
The three guild masters sighed.
"We've been completely outplayed..."
