The black tri-pointed crown demon mage had finally got the elusive alternate dimension dragon, bringing its S tier kill count up to 2 for the battle. If Michael was not able to stop the various status effects on the Saint flame dragon it would soon be 3. The unit was a real killer. Probably better than the armageddon dragon, assuming the mage could be protected long enough to do its damage.
Peter would have been seriously concerned for his chances at surviving, if not for the assumption that the mage had to be running low if not empty on the special attack. The rest of the battlefield seemed to be settling in his favor. With 32 ballista batteries firing several bolts a minute, they were killing or wounding A and B tiers far too often for even the higher number of enemy elites to overcome.
As things continued to wind down, Peter could finally start imagining the take down of that pesky S tier demon mage, but just as it seemingly became a real possibility Bonefiend’s general made the decision to retreat their elites. The S tier mage along with all the other probably spent demon mages retreated back to the seventh floor. The attack did not stop however, Hundreds of C tiers started pouring in to keep up the pressure. Peter cursed, he hated dealing with intelligent enemies. It certainly was not the first time that he wished the other cores would be as dumb as AI run enemies.
Glenda was responding intelligently however. She had called to bring their own C tier reinforcements from the ninth floor forward. She apparently had enough mana to perform a full power star fall attack claiming hundreds of the unprotected low tier demons. Luckily, Peter had several undead A tiers who moved on to tirelessly start culling the weaker demons.
Boris chimed in with the status. “ Boss, we have killed 170 plus Bonefiends A tiers along with another 5 frozen gate alternate dimension A tiers and at least 1,300 B tiers from both forces. We currently have 11 A tiers and 182 B tiers left, and the Saint flame dragon has apparently been stabilized."
Peter nodded. Along with the S tier they had certainly taken a sizable chunk out of most powerful demon cores forces. Still if the bonefiend or frozen gate sent another force of 50 plus A tiers their dungeon could fall even if they were able to kill them all. It was likely the demons were allowing their mages to recharge before attempting a final push. Peter was certainly concerned, but at least Eli was once again attacking his first floor, which would mean the reinforcement ability was once again cut off. Now he only had to hope they had not brought a ton of elites forward during that time when it had once again been under the enemies full control.
His assault force was also battling for their very lives. Krista’s forces had been ready to receive the reinforcements on the eighth floor. Delilah’s rifle flared with black energy before sending the black crystal forward striking an A tier fiend in the chest. The fiend was not killed outright, but was clearly grievously wounded. Delilah was already charging her next shot. She was the leader for the eighth floor defenses while Krista was fighting the wave sent from the tenth floor to pincer them.
The pit fiend core was likely giving its all for this pincer attack, sending 32 A tiers and likely all the rest of his elites to attack Krista and her forces while half of them were occupied by the fiend army on the eighth. Peter would have been worried about either front, if it were not for the 2 S tiers.
The S tier Berserker ape intercepted the elites of the fiend army ripping into a group of A tiers. One of which was caught before being instantly ripped into two halves, before the ape caught another. The Berserker ape was true to its name. It was best in the middle of a bunch of enemies, depending on its tough hide to keep it alive as it ripped and smashed even high tier enemies almost casually.
Krista on the other hand was the true killer of this battle. She had to be well into the 20’s for A tiers killed if not 30’s. She was fast and agile, together with holy energy and a celestial sword she was able to carve through high tier enemies just as easily. She would only be stopped if a powerful enough attack hit her. Her defenses should be far below that of the berserker ape. However, with the B tier support of the other archangels the enemies were just not getting the chance. It was clear that pit fiend’s last counter attack would fall heavily short due to the archangel force alone.
Krista would likely have to rest for a good while before the final push to finish the conquest, but Peter was almost certain that it would happen. The fiend army would cause significant losses to Delilah’s force, but it was not near enough to stop him from conquering the pit fiend core’s dungeon unless there were some hidden trump cards.
The trump cards never came. Krista’s forces prevailed first. She sent all the beasts back to aid Delilah as she and the archangels rested and guarded against further moves from the pit fiend core. The fiend army was already unable to beat Delilah’s forces. The new additions would clearly make the loss occur faster.
Gabriel’s assault had overtaken theirs however. All the battle participants got the message at the same time.
[Rock Demon core has been eliminated from the battle. Opportunity will be made available at the end of battle for any opposing core to use double tap, provided that the rock demon core has any core’s remaining after core burn through protocol.]
Peter’s excitement was short-lived. Thanks to Eli’s access to no man’s land, he was able to get a message through to any allied units there. Eli had apparently decided to inform the assault army that Gabriel’s forces would be needed to retake Elyra’s dungeon while he himself would double down on sending more crustaceans into Peter’s dungeon. It was frustrating since Eli still had not taken Peter’s first floor. Peter did not really trust the supposedly redoubled efforts of the guy.
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In contrast, Predator still had forces alive on Elyra’s third floor fighting fiercely to prevent reinforcements from getting through. Elyra however was reporting that she was in dire straits. Peter had difficulty imagining her situation could be as bad as his or worse. She should have far more units than he did, and was not going against Bonefiend, the top demon rookie. Then again her auxiliary capabilities were likely far below his own.
Apparently, “the reinforcements” that Eli was supposedly bringing to his aid, did not spur Bonefiend and Frozen gate core to begin their attack early. Since nothing changed over the next half hour. Eli finally reported that he was on Peter’s second floor, but Peter was less than underwhelmed by his progress.
Krista however had finally elected to continue the assault. As expected, the tenth floor defenses were already lacking. The only A tiers left were those guarding the entrance to the core room, likely to prevent Delilah or another alternate dimension from getting to it. However, Krista elected to skip right over everything attacking the core room entrance directly with only her archangels.
She carved right through the 3 A tiers, while her B tiers ran support. Several B tiers went down while protecting their leaders' flanks, but far less than would have likely gone down if she had tried to kill all the enemies on the floor. In less than a minute, Krista carved her way forward until she reached the core.
[Pit fiend has been eliminated. Rewards will be decided at the end of the dungeon battle.]
It was not lost on Peter or his allies the difference between the two elimination notices. Apparently, one core was immediately destroyed. For cores like Pit fiend they would be eliminated regardless of the overall core burn through process. Peter only wished he could get his hands on pit fiend type cards right now.
Bonefiend and the frozen gate forces had not felt inclined to make their final push due to any pressure from Eli, but apparently the promise of Peter’s returning assault force was far more frightening. It took less than a few minutes for them to start the final push.
Their guess had been accurate. Less than a minute after their victory Krista and Delilah popped into his dungeon with the entire army in tow. Crustacean entrance guards scurried out of the way allowing them passage. There were not very many of them, certainly not enough to protect his entrance from more than a few hundred potential attackers. Krista and Delilah started rushing through the first floor, towards the fight supposedly occurring on the second.
Any relief at seeing them coming to help out was lost a minute later, when demon elites started pouring through his eighth floor entrance. Sure enough Bonefiend did not have enough A tiers left inside Peter’s dungeon, but Frozen gate had brought plenty. Luckily, Peter had anticipated Frozen gate joining the fight for several hours. Only 50 minutes had passed since the last big push, but Peter’s preparations had already been enroute. A message on the backs of a full dozen iron glider flies were sent streaking through the dungeon. With hopes at least one would make it through to his own forces.
It was earlier than he would have liked, but all 100 of his B tier mining apes had been brought forward to join the battle. They had carted forward the catapults. In addition, Peter brought out his only other remaining trump card, the A tier angelic slayer and its heavy infantry army. It was only a little over 600 units and one elite, but they were fresh. The earth trotter dryad and other auxiliaries would make the final stand on the tenth floor if things came down to that, but hopefully Peter could stop them here.
The catapults started launching the enriched magnesium immediately showering all the demons. Flying demons were even knocked out of the air. Peter did not have many archangels and dragons left to put up any sort of air defense, so they would hold back to protect his ballista and catapults.
The slayer angels glided forward reinforcing a collapsing front. The A tier angel carved up the B tiers who had caused the line to break before taking up the center position as the other C tier slayers formed a defensive line. Their armor was as thick as the turtle gnome units, but they were more deadly, killing demons that slammed into them easily despite their swords being made of flame.
The B tier mining apes had moved forward falling behind them. Magic spells soon started slamming into the barriers kept up by the several hundred C tier mages and vigil masters sent forward to guard them. They were well past the point where he could keep all his mages at the back of the floor to preserve them. Glenda and his other 2 A tier mages still had several hundred C tiers back there with them, but they would almost purely be focused on protecting all the siege equipment. The only things capable of making up for having fewer elites in the field.
Bonefiend only had a dozen A tiers left or so, but frozen gate had brought at least another 50. Peter’s rifle plattoons instantly took a toll, killing several near immediately and wounding many more, but most of his rifle platoon was composed of C tiers and only had enough mana to fire 2 or 3 black stones before recovery or potions were needed. After the prolonged battle, at most Peter hoped to get 4 or 5 shots a piece, and that was after giving Glenda orders to have them take mana potions to the point of debilitating sickness to get in as many shots as possible.
Holy sigils flared as the B tier versions of the elite demon mage fired their weaker black blobs of energy at his forces. The C tier sigils held up to the B tier attacks despite Michaels inability to stop the S tiers. A good thing since those energy blobs would still likely kill anything B tier and down.
The S tier’s black blob however burst right through all protections eliminating the slayer angel A tier. Ten seconds later it launched another to kill the meat cleaver carrying A tier he had summoned from a tombstone card. Ten seconds after that it claimed a second undead A tier. The S tier mage had clearly decided that there were no high value targets to save its special attack for. The saint flame dragon had survived, but in its debilitated state Peter had moved it back to the tenth floor. If it did have to fight again, he needed it to get as much recovery time as possible.
A fourth attack seemed to be the last the S tier could manage since it stopped firing immediately after, shifting to standard magic attacks. The fourth blob had honed in on the new guardian spirit golem, but oddly enough was not enough to finish off the not condensed stone body. An oddity since it had dealt with the mirror soldier, another non biological unit, well enough. Apparently the attack was not all powerful, or the guardian spirit or its condensed stone body had a resistance to the attack.
The most powerful mage not having its unique attack was not enough comfort given that his lines were already collapsing back due to the loss of the 3 A tiers. The final 3 undead A tiers fell soon after, leaving only C and B tiers between the enemy's elite and his remaining elite.
