With the powerful shield and the third stack of the Sunfire Bell’s buff active, the attacking players finally found their courage.
“CHAAAAARGE!”
With a unified roar, the players at the eastern, southern, and northern gates surged forward.
Lila raised her voice above the din. “Girls, let’s show these guys what we’re made of!”
“For the Bloom!” Hazel shouted, leading the charge and slamming into the enemy front line.
She met a deluge of spells, arrows, and traps without a hint of fear.
-1 (Arrow)
-1 (Spell)
-1 (Melee)
-168 (Critical Hit)
…
+2041 (Heal)
The stream of -1 damage numbers popping up over Hazel’s head left the attacking players utterly dumbfounded.
“What the hell is our DPS doing? Did you all forget how to play?”
“That little girl is a monster!”
“Holy shit! We can’t even scratch her.”
Fresh out of the Hidden Realm, Hazel was decked out in almost a full set of legendary gear. In addition to her original [Bulwark of the Vanquished] and [Vinemail Cuirass], she had also acquired a legendary helmet and vambraces from the instance’s drops.
Lila was intentionally building Hazel into the guild's premiere main tank, giving her priority on all legendary defensive gear. In fact, if not for Kael’s Ascendant bow, Hazel’s gear might have even surpassed his.
Combined with her skills and talents from her second advancement, the buff from the upgraded Thunderclap Drums, and additional NPC buffs, any physical attack under 5,000 and any magic attack under 3,000 couldn't even break her defense threshold.
The Sunfire Bell was powerful, but it had only added 1100 physical and 850 magic attack. The average players without gear from the Hidden Realm stood no chance of harming her.
But players weren't NPCs. Realizing they were getting nowhere with Hazel, they weren't about to waste their time.
The players at the front turned and shouted to those behind them. “Ignore the tank! Go around her!”
Just then, a voice rained down from above.
“Go around? Did you ask for my permission?”
BOOM!
Lila slammed into the ground, a shockwave from her Earthshatter Leap stunning every player in a five-yard radius. She immediately targeted a priest and drove her fist forward.
-4835
Even with multiple buffs stacked on him, the priest couldn't survive a blow that dealt 150% of Lila's formidable weapon damage. The leap and the punch were a clean, devastating combo.
Lila’s sudden dive into their backline completely shattered the attackers’ plans. If they let her run wild, she would systematically execute every squishy player they had.
Stolen novel; please report.
Someone recognized her. “That’s the Crimson Bloom guild leader!”
“Kill her! Focus her down!”
In an instant, a dozen attacks converged on Lila.
-55
-72
-37
…
A flurry of laughably low numbers appeared over her head.
“Fuck, that’s impossible!”
“She’s a DPS class! How is her defense so high?!”
“It’s a bug! The game is bugged!”
The players cried foul. Lila’s physical defense was around 2500, while the average attacker’s damage output was between 3000 and 3500. Logically, each hit should have dealt several hundred, if not a thousand, points of damage. The numbers made no sense.
A slight smirk touched Lila's lips. It was all thanks to Starbloom.
During their time in the Hidden Realm, Starbloom had found a tome that allowed her to learn a 3-Skill-Point ability: [Soul Link].
[Soul Link]: Link with a friendly target. 90% of all damage taken by the linked target is redirected to another designated ally.
Lila was only taking 10% of the incoming damage. The other 90% was being funneled directly to Hazel, and for her, those hits were nothing more than a tickle.
The players on the other side quickly realized something was wrong. “She’s got some kind of buff on her!” one shouted to his party’s priest. “Dispel it! Dispel it now!”
Before the priest could even raise his staff, Lila began to spin.
[Whirlwind]: Increase all resistances by 200%. Deal 150% weapon damage per second to nearby enemies. Movement speed increased by 10%. Duration: 3 seconds.
Dispel was a probabilistic skill, its success rate dependent on the level difference between the caster and the target, resistances, and other factors. A level 16 priest trying to dispel a level 18 warrior already had a low chance of success. With Lila's resistance boosted by 200%, the odds were comparable to winning the lottery.
Three seconds isn't a long time, but it was long enough. While the enemy priests were waiting for her Whirlwind to end, a rain of fire suddenly descended from the sky—a new skill from their mage, Lunara. Combined with Lila’s damage, the volley instantly wiped out five players.
Seeing her Whirlwind timer about to expire, Lila used Charge to rocket back toward her own lines, escaping the priests' spell range.
Hazel saw Lila coming and moved to cover her retreat. A swordsman on the attacking side anticipated her move and planted himself in her path, trying to body-block her.
“You’re not going anywhere! Eat steel!” The swordsman charged at Hazel, unleashing a flurry of slashes to halt her advance.
Hazel stared at him incredulously. Does this guy really think shield-bearers are just punching bags?
She raised the one-handed mace in her right hand and brought it down.
-1885
With all her buffs active, Hazel’s attack power was nearly 3000. The damage was shocking. Still, her opponent was tanky, with nearly 3000 health remaining.
Hazel then slammed her shield into his face.
-3321
[Shield Bash]: Deals damage equal to your total Armor value to an enemy and generates a large amount of threat.
It was her only dedicated damage skill. The swordsman couldn't take it. He collapsed to the ground, dead.
"Who says I can't kill people," Hazel huffed, kicking his corpse out of the way before linking up with Lila and escorting her back to safety.
The enemy tried to pursue, but they were forced back by a blast of Lunara’s [Dragon's Breath].
Lila recovered behind Hazel for ten seconds, and once her cooldowns were up, she leaped back into the fray, killed a few more players, and retreated again. This hit-and-run tactic was causing the attackers a massive headache.
While the southern gate was a showcase of Crimson Bloom’s strength, the northern gate was a different story. The guild members there were struggling.
Despite their superior stats, they were at an absolute numerical disadvantage and lacked a fortress-like anchor like Hazel. They couldn't withstand the endless tide of attacks. Soon, their defensive line was breached. If not for the covering fire from the Blackwind Brotherhood’s archers on the walls, they would have been wiped out.
“Fall back! Let the NPCs take the front!” shouted Silvana, the guild’s vice-leader.
The two sides' NPC forces were vastly different. The attackers had higher-level NPCs—a dozen level 30 boss-types and dozens more at level 25—but most were support units.
The defenders' NPCs were lower level, between 20 and 25, but they were almost all combat-focused, with nearly two thousand of them. Empowered by the upgraded Thunderclap Drums, they were still significantly stronger than the average player. For the time being, the northern gate would not fall.
As for the players on the eastern front, they were giving the gate a wide berth. Kael stood on his watchtower, utterly bored. After his first two volleys had vaporized over seven hundred people, no one else dared to use that route.
His attention shifted to the south and north, where the other watchtowers were on the verge of collapse. The Archon had summoned two giant catapults from somewhere, and they were relentlessly pounding the structures.
Just as Kael decided to head to the northern tower to help, it was too late.
CRUUUUNCH...
CRACK... BOOM!
With two deafening crashes, the north and south watchtowers collapsed into rubble.
