—-
Numbers of enemy slain: 12,856
Diablo's Bonus Attack: 64,280
Diablo's Bonus Defense: 64,280
—-
Only half an hour had passed since the battle started, and yet, the number of dead monsters had already surpassed ten thousand.
Aside from Eternal, who was basically unscathed by the Beast Tide, the other guilds were now starting to feel the pressure since the Rank 1 Monsters were almost entirely eliminated. The rest that remained were Rank 2 Monsters, and above.
There had also been several Alpha Beasts whose rank ranged from Rank 1 to Rank 3, which now made defending the city a lot harder.
It was not only the Monsters that were dying, the defenders were the same as well. Just as the stronger Monsters were about to enter the fray, several blow horns sounded across the battlefield.
It was the signal for everyone to retreat to the second defensive perimeter, where makeshift walls, made from Earth, were prepared to hold back the stronger Monsters that had now joined the siege.
Aina ordered her guild to retreat in an orderly manner. Right now, her guild was taking things at an easy pace since not a single Monster had been able to get past the Skeletal Rider who was massacring everyone within his range.
On the contrary, the other guilds didn't have it easy, and were forced to retreat at a slower pace. The very last to retreat were Twisted Destiny and Arcadian Lords, who had stretched out their forces in order to guide the Beast Tide to the location that the Eternal Guild was defending.
In short, their plan backfired on them, and the number of their casualties numbered in the hundreds.
Diablo also slowly retreated while shooting Bone Spears at the Rank 1 and Rank 2 Alpha Monsters, which were easily killed by him with one hit.
Eiko, who was perched on top of Lux's head, frowned, because the Alpha Monsters' Beast Cores were being eaten by the other monsters, who had taken advantage of the situation.
"Muu!" the baby slime pouted, while her Papa could only chuckle at her current mood.
"Don't worry, there are still more where they came from," Lux assured the pouting Eiko on his head. "These monsters numbered nearly a million, so there are still plenty of Monsters left."
"Pa!"
"Okay, you can get some Alpha Cores as well. But, you shouldn't take them all. The others need to get stronger too."
Eiko nodded her head in understanding and stopped pouting. Currently, her Slimes had managed to get hundreds of Rank 1 and Rank 2 Beast Cores. Although they were just low-ranked beast cores, the baby slime knew that more would come as the Beast Tide continued.
After all the guilds were safely stationed at the second line of defense, they felt a lot safer because they now stood on five-meter tall walls.
The reason why they engaged the lower-ranked monsters outside their defensive perimeters was due to the fact that they didn't want the lower-ranked monster bodies to pile up and render their walls useless.
If that happened, the stronger monsters could easily climb over the bodies of their dead comrades and overwhelm the defenders behind the walls.
In order to prevent this, they decided to kill the weak monsters out on the outskirts, and just move to the second line of defense once the main bulk of the Beast Tide had arrived.
"Are you sure you only want to become a temporary member of our guild?" Aina asked.
"Yes," Lux replied. "You've asked me this question five times. My answer will remain the same even if you ask me again."
The officers of Eternal sighed after hearing Lux's reply. After seeing Diablo's performance, they wanted to bring Lux into their guild even more in order to strengthen their ranks and compete with the other guilds in clearing dungeons and difficult quests.
Having heard Lux's answer, Aina motioned for her sister to come close to her. Naturally, Colette happily obliged as her Big Sister whispered something in her ears.
A minute later, Colette held onto Lux's arm and lightly swung it from side to side acting all cute and adorable, which made Matty, and the rest of her friends, cover their faces in embarrassment.
"Big Brother, please join our guild," Colette said sweetly. "If you do, you will be given the rank of Elder, as well as 5,000 Gold Coins monthly allowance. Not only that, you will be given priority to item and equipment loot when clearing dungeons. Also, you can go out on dates with my Big Sister once a week."
Aina expressionlessly stared at her little sister who was doing her best to convince Lux to join her guild.
Colette had told Lux everything Aina wanted her to say to him. However, the adorable little girl had one-sidedly added the condition that she would go out on a date with the Half-Elf once a week. That was something that she had never said to her.
The officers of Eternal all looked at Aina in askance, and the latter only shook her head to deny Colette's additional condition to bribe the Half-Elf into becoming part of their guild.
The officers of Eternal knew what their Guild Master was like, and knew that she didn't have any interest in having a relationship with anyone.
"Sorry, but I can't," Lux replied while Colette swung his arm from side to side. "Don't worry. I will still go on adventures with you guys even if I didn't join your guild."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
Colette could only accept Lux's decision and no longer pestered him.
Aina could only shake her head in her sister's failed attempt to recruit a strong addition to their guild. The Guild Master of Eternal stared at the approaching tide of monsters with a fearless gaze.
However, just like her, everyone's eyes were looking at the Skeleton Rider who was standing two hundred meters away from them.
People from other guilds had never seen such a strong Monster before and envied Eternal for having a Necromancer of Lux's caliber in their ranks.
Eternal's ranking in the leaderboards seemed unshakeable because the gap was simply too wide for them to catch up.
Even so, the Guild Masters of Twisted Destiny and Arcadian Lords were still calm despite their first setback.
Since they couldn't decrease the number of Eternal's Guild Members on the battlefield, they could still proceed to the next phase of their plan now, which was to sabotage them from within.
Everyone had a price, and even some of the most loyal members of Eternal could be bought as long as the price was high enough.
It didn't matter whether they had to use money, threats, or intimidation to make it happen. As long as they could achieve their goal, Twilight Rain was more than happy to move in the shadows to help their collaborators shine in the spotlight.
