While the defending army got excited by their apparent victory, they heard a rumble at the rear side of the fort. The defending soldiers and players stationed at the rear side had a better understanding of what caused the sound. They were currently watching a large number of soldiers rushing at them while shouting in their advance.
The legion that was advancing at their rear numbered ten thousand strong. It was equal to their number within the fort, but they were currently defending four sides equally. So, their number was divided by four. The troops defending the rear watched with worry as the army four times their size approached.
"Hold steady! They won't be able to breach a siege with such a small force," Sturdy Serpent yelled. He had completed the crafting of his pet armor at Guila's hut a while ago and returned to join Jeanny.
"Small force? Brother, do you not have eyes?" Weird Trap, who returned together with him from Guila's hut, said.
"You normally need at least five times an army if you wish to break a siege, ten times if you want a decent chance. This number won't succeed!" Sturdy Serpent uttered.
Sturdy Serpent used to be in the military, so his words carried weight. The players who listened had their spirit lifted. One thing that Sturdy Serpent intentionally left out, though, was that although this was generally true in their past world, the world here was slightly different. Mostly due to the differences in levels and grades. If the enemies had higher levels and grades, then they need fewer numbers. Not to mention all the attacking force was natives, while one-third of theirs were players. The natives possessed higher HP which allowed them to suffer more punishments.
Sturdy Serpent had inspected most of the attacking soldiers who came into range. They were mostly level 45 to 55. Their lowest grade was elite, around half were special elite. He didn't find a single basic-grade enemy from the ones who had attacked. The players' current average levels were 46 to 48, their average equipment was mostly uncommon grades with a few rare grades. This put them slightly below the natives in terms of raw power. Sturdy Serpent did not doubt there would be higher level and higher grade natives on stand-by in the encircling army.
Not to mention, if the encircling army all attacked at once. The sight of that army looked to be ten times their number.
Yet, at the moment, they needed spirit to fight. So, Sturdy Serpent told them encouraging words, even when he himself was not encouraged.
The rear-side defenders started clashing with the attacking legion. Their bombardments had little effect on the enemy's advance. The knights at the front reached the wall and started hitting it. The rune diagram was alighted as it took effect.
The ranged defenders executed all skills in their arsenals, trying to take out as many of the enemies who were battering their wall. While the attacking ranged players shot at the defenders to hinder them.
The melee players who couldn't do range attacks threw Fire Bottles from above. It was an offensive tool created by alchemists. It required cheap ingredients and also little time to produce so they had stocked a lot. However, its damage was also small. Only 100 fire damage per bottle and a very small 1% chance of causing burn, but this was still better than nothing. It allowed the melee players to contribute to the defense.
Because the fighting at the rear was getting more intense than the other three sides. The defending troops unconsciously shifted to the rear. More soldiers and players ended up at the rear-side wall. At this time, they saw the enemy facing the front wall start moving.
The number that came for this front assault was alarming. It was twice compared to the number attacking the rear. It was a legion of twenty-thousand troops. The most worrying fact was that the one leading this legion was Arther Pendrake, a level 80 mythical native.
"Isabelle…!!" Commander Quintus yelled when he recognized the person leading the incoming force.
"I'm here," Duchess Isabelle who was on a different side of the wall suddenly appeared next to the commander.
"Are they going all out already?" Prince Alonzo asked with worry.
"No, the majority of their army is still keeping their distance," Quintus answered. He then turned to his aides, "We need more defenders here, go call those at the back!"
"Yes, sir!" The aides said and went to relay the order.
Arther, who was advancing with the legion, pointed his sword, a large two-handed silver greatsword, forward. "CHAARGGEEEE...!!!" He shouted.
The entire legion increased in speed. Everyone was running. The ground trembled from the stomping of such a large number of soldiers.
At the same time, silvery transparent wings appeared on Arther's back. He then shot into the sky. "Isabelle…! Face me!!"
He lifted his greatsword into the sky. The greatsword blazed with silver fire that formed a giant imitation of the sword with two large wings on its side. Those that had watched the World Tournament felt that the skill looked like the superior version of Violent Blizzard's Blue Wings Slash.
The sword image was very large. If Arther slashed it down, it would hit everyone on the front wall.
Isabelle's figure that was standing beside Quintus disappeared in a flash. The next second, she appeared in front of Arther in the sky. A sphere of light appeared around her as Arther's silvery wing sword came slashing. It crashed onto Isabelle's light sphere. A thundering sound echoed through the air as a violent shockwave radiated from the point of impact. When the shockwave passed by the people below, they either fell or had to stop to steady themselves.
Arther didn't stop his assault. His whole body was suddenly alighted. Silver flame covered his entire body as well as making his frame appear twice its original size. His speed increased after the transformation. The greatsword in his hand danced at a speed undetected with naked eyes. All that was seen was multiple sword lights slashing at Isabelle.
Isabelle didn't stay idle. When her light sphere was being pounded by Arther, she was already casting a spell. Her six-runes spell took effect. Nine different types of melee weapons that were made of light appeared before her. These melee weapons moved forward and clashed with Arther.
Sword lights and living weapons struck each other endlessly. Every collision resulted in a thundering sound.
As the two mythical natives clashed in the air, the attacking soldiers below advanced under bombardment and reached the front wall. They started battering at the structure while the defenders never stopped throwing range attacks.
When the attackers arrived, the defenders noticed that they brought something with them, several very long ladders. These ladders were then hoisted up. When the ladders hit the top of the wall, a hooking mechanism on their tops rotated and latched onto the wall, fixing the ladder firmly in place. The nearby player tried to unhook the ladder, but the latches didn't budge.
A sentinel player who was confident with his strength used two hands and tried to push the ladder, but it still didn't budge.
"Dude! Do you think we are still in our world? Start hitting it!" Another player by his side uttered.
The sentinel saw the player hitting the ladder. An HP bar and damage number were seen. In order to unlatch these ladders, they needed to destroy the latching mechanism. The sentinel started hitting. However, the HP bar went down at a very slow rate.
"Move the damn aside!" A rough voice was heard and the sentinel felt himself getting shoved to the side. He was angry at the treatment and was about to scold back, but stopped himself when he saw that the man who pushed him was The Man, a high-ranking member of his guild.
The Man shouted, "All those with high damage, attack the ladders. Everyone else stepped aside!"
The ladders were small. The space where melee players could hit them was limited. Only two players could hit them at a time, three if the players were small. So, it would be a waste to let low-damage players hit the ladders.
However, even with the high-damage players hitting the ladders frantically, the HP still went down at a slow rate. When the ladder's HP was around forty percent, a shadow suddenly shot up the ladder. The Man who had decent mana sense, immediately performed a defensive maneuver as a hurricane of knives exploded in front of him. He managed to use his axe to tackle several of the knives while jumping back, but some still hit. He lost more than half his life. His comrade who was hitting the ladder beside him was not that fortunate, he died after getting stabbed by the hurricane of knives.
The one that had executed the attack was a level 60 special elite native. He now stood in front of the ladder, preventing anyone from attacking the ladder. Several players tried to attack the native, but they were all repelled. Not long after, another enemy soldier came up the ladder.
