Themisphere's army continued to fight a strenuous battle against the Verremor's force. Not only did the enemies outnumber them, but the enemies also had more natives in their force compared to them who had more than half composed of outworlders.
As they were fighting, they felt the air around them become cold.
"Be careful! A large AOE spell is incoming!" Kill Order from Black Cloak, who could sense mana, gave a warning. Kill Order had given the right to control the guild soldiers to his aide. He preferred to be in the field of battle.
However, the warning was futile. The spell covered a large area, they didn't have enough time to flee. Not to mention the area was packed with soldiers and players, it wasn't easy to maneuver around. Those who had defensive spells and skills immediately activated them. The spell took effect and the area around them was covered with ice energy.
They recognized the spell as Ice Storm. One out of the three elemental storms that an Elementalist received when they reached level 50. This Ice Storm dealt ice damage as well as slowed those within the affected area.
Even though the area was large, the damage carried by the spell was still bearable. They just had to endure the slow effect.
However, before they could feel relief for surviving the spell, another similarly large AOE spell was dropped in the same area.
"Another one… No, several more!" Black Cloak warned. "Sentinels, protection field! Priests, words of prayers! Spread out the castings!"
The two classes nearby followed the command. Spreading out the activation of the skills and spells in a large area. At the same time, the AOE spell hit, it was Fire Storm this time, several fire storms.
Fire Storm caused the highest damage compared to ice and lightning storms, but it didn't have the crowd control effect as the two.
With several layers of fire storms laid in the same area, the cumulative damage was very high. Even with the protection fields and words of prayers covering the affected area, the HP of those affected still went down at a rapid rate. Natives were still fine since they had high HP pools, but players were not. The defensive players could still bear the punishment but the more vulnerable classes soon found themselves in critical conditions.
"Druids! Healing Rain!" Bluedaze ordered.
She herself was also a Druid now. She cast her level 50 spell, Healing Rain. Sinreaper, who had changed class to archmage, cast Magic Field, boosting Bluedaze's spell as well as triggering her Healing Rain to be cast twice. This recovery spell covered a similarly large area, but its healing process wasn't instant. With many druids casting the same spell, the healing amount stacked and balanced the damage they lost.
The third elemental storm, lightning storm, hit in between the fire storms, inflicting Paralyze status on some of the players. When the effect hit healer classes, it reduced their chance of surviving this elemental onslaught.
The elemental storms continued to hit. When they were fearful that the spells would never end, they fortunately did. A number of players perished, but luckily a large number survived because of their quick responses. Before the start of this decisive battle, their guild leaders had distributed elemental resistance scrolls. All the players had also eaten food that granted them extra HP, physical and magical defenses. Without these extra buffs, they wouldn't have been able to survive these chained storms.
"What the hell was that?!" Wealth Holder uttered.
"Most likely one of the top guilds in Verrermor, the Mage Society," David from Dogs of War, who was controlling the guild soldiers inside the supply depot, informed them via the party's chat. "They are a guild that only accepts magic class players. A large portion of their members is Elementalists."
Dogs of War had gathered intelligence on the top guilds in Verremor before the war. Hence, they knew about it.
"The same chained storms were cast in other areas," John informed. "Those other areas are not as lucky as yours. Heavy casualties have been inflicted especially on players. I reckon five groups of players composed only of Elementalists had done the damage just now. The elemental storm had a one-hour duration. Higher levels had a shorter duration. We must eliminate these groups before they do those chained storms again. They are too damaging. Damn! They actually thought up this offensive method."
"How do you propose us do that? They are behind the enemy's defensive line," Wealth Holder asked.
"I've already tasked our Eagle Rider Hunters to hunt those Elementalists, but they won't be able to decimate the five groups within an hour. I required expert Assassins to use their Vanish skill and slipped behind the enemy's line and hunt another group."
"Slip past the defense line? You do know that Vanish will be canceled when the users are touched, right? How do you think they can slip in without getting touched through all this mess?" Wealth Holder asked.
"That's why I said expert Assassins. All second-rate ones no need to try," John replied.
"I will lead an assassin squad from Dogs of War for this mission," Sergeant Zero said in the chat.
"I will do the same as well," Lustful Elly from Crowd of Sins added.
"So am I," Kill Order said.
"We don't have many expert assassins, but we will help," Dashrunner from White Scarfs said. He was now a level 54 Assassin.
"Even if you managed to kill those Elementalists, you will all be trapped behind enemy lines. Your Vanish skill will still be on cooldown when you try to escape," Wealth Holder said.
"We will manage," Sergeant Zero replied. Kill Order, Lustful Elly, and Dashrunner didn't say anything.
"Do it," John said.
"Dude, you are truly heartless, aren't you?" Fat Gregory remarked.
"Dude, we are in a war. It is a heartless situation from the start," John returned.
"Even then, you said there are five groups in different areas, didn't you? We won't be able to hit all five," Sinreaper said.
"I have an expert who is godly when it comes to creating havoc from inside the enemy ranks," John said. "I will be calling him now."
*
The said expert was still defending against the orc soldiers with Arlcard, Therras, and his Ice Demon Fiend. His spirit weapon had run out of duration and Jack sent it inside the enemy's rank before it used its Finishing mode.
With Duke Alfredo taking care of the orc mage officer, they didn't have any trouble keeping the enemy's tides. This side where Jack was defending was faring much better than the other sides.
Considering this was a defensive battle, Jack didn't fight too deep into the enemy's rank, but he was still slightly ahead of the others. His Formless Flowing Sword style was more effective when fighting against enemies from all sides. He let the enemies surround him and then used his sword art to tear them down.
As he was merrily slicing and dicing, he found himself surrounded by red flower petals.
'Huh? Where do these petals come from?' Jack wondered.
While he was still wondering, he sensed mana from each of these petals. The closest ones suddenly rushed towards him. He dodged out of instinct, but since there were so many, some still cut him. Damage numbers appeared whenever he was hit by these petals.
"A skill…?!" Jack uttered with surprise. He looked around trying to see the source of this assault.
"I'm not aware of any skill or spell that created such a visual," Peniel informed.
'Not a skill?' Jack thought. The petals turned more violent then. Their speed picked up and they rushed at him in droves.
This mysterious assault didn't give him much time to think. He immediately cast Ice Ring. Cold energy radiated out and froze the incoming petals. But they were only stopped for a second before they resumed again.
"Shit!" Jack used Whirlwind Slash. The force from the skill shredded a portion of the petals, but some were unaffected and continued onward. Jack activated Gold Scale Armor as the petals flew past and cut his body again.
"Hah, you are not as formidable as brother Four Winds described you," Jack heard a woman's voice.
He looked over and found the petals scatter and reveal a young female orc holding two longswords in both hands.
The orc girl spoke again, "You can't even deal against my Hundred Petal Swords. You have to use this game world's defense skill to block my art. I am disappointed."
"The attack just now is a martial art?" Jack asked. He used his Inspect at the same time. The orc girl was named Muilan. She was a level 55 Blade Dancer.
"Of course," Muilan answered. "I am not as low as you to depend on instant game skills that require no effort in learning."
"Girl, do you have to use such condescending tone and words every time you open your mouth? That is not a polite way to talk to your elder."
"What elder?! You don't look that older than me…!"
"Hehe, so you are truly a little girl. Getting worked up from just a few words," Jack ridiculed with a smile.
"The only thing you are good at is using your mouth! Watch my swords…!!" Muilan exclaimed. His two swords started spinning. At the same time, the image of hundred petals reappeared, obscuring Muilan's figure.
'This is a martial art that conjured a visual image, just like Jet's Seven Injuries Fist,' Jack thought. He was pretty certain there would be no petals if this martial art was performed in the real world.
Jack didn't just stay idle. As the petals approached, he accumulated mana onto his two hands.
