Chapter 223 - 223. High Ground Attacks
Before they entered the rock formation, the group broke again into the three teams divided between the different guilds. The rock formation had more than one entrance which led to the central basin. The three guilds would enter from different directions and converged on the basin where they executed their assault. The last contact with their scouts indicated that John's group was still resting within the basin.
They stopped moving hastily as they entered the rock formation, now that they were close to their prey. If they could secure a surprise attack, it would make the fight much easier. There were some low-level monsters on the paths. Earmouth arranged for one or two players to deal with the monsters as quietly as possible so as to not hinder the others' advance.
After several minutes of walking, they were getting closer to the targets. Earmouth slowed down their pace even more so that they could approach undetected. He sternly warned everyone with a hand signal to not make any noises.
They crept slowly forward. They soon met with the advance scout who had been sending them their targets' position. Earmouth typed in the party channel that the basin where the targets were located was just behind this next rock wall.
Everyone brandished their weapons and prepared to attack. Earmouth stood at the front giving a hold signal. Jack imagined he was coordinating with the other two teams through chat so that they could execute the assault at the same time.
Jack could just hope that John wasn't kidding when he said he had known about them coming.
Earmouth finally gave the signal. Everyone charged out while yelling. They could hear a series of shouts from the other side. They came into a large open area surrounded by high and thick rock walls. The other two teams came in from the other side from different openings.
John's group was positioned at the back of where they came from. Upon seeing many players rushed in, they didn't panic. They stood up and formed a line as they slowly backed away to an opening behind them.
"Attack!" The leader from Corporate United roared. One could imagine his fury from his voice. He was anxious to tear the guy who had ruined his guild's reputation to pieces.
Countless balls of light started to fly forward. Almost every magician on the three teams cast either Magic Bullet and Energy Bolts at the small group ahead. The numbers alone would be enough to obliterate them. Everyone was thinking this fight was over already just as it began.
But everyone who was paying attention to John's expression would find him to be extremely calm. Jack was amongst those who noticed John's calm demeanor. What was he up to? He asked himself.
John answered him by taking out a roll of paper. The roll of paper shined with power before exploding into a spell formation. A wide wall of light appeared in front of his group.
A magic scroll! Jack recognized the tool. The spell was even one he had used before to defend against the attack from possessed Winston, Magic Wall.
The countless magic attacks slammed onto the magic wall. Attacks sent by that many Magicians were dazzling, but none of it could pass through the wall formed of light. Jack didn't find it surprising. Peniel had informed him before that Magic Wall was a spell from Elite class. It was a whole two-class difference from the offensive spells currently battering at it. Even if the number of spells was increased to double, it would make little difference.
The magic wall was still standing proudly in place, there was not even a crack on it. Unlike the time when he had used it to block Possessed Winston's assault, which had destroyed the wall in a single attack.
John and the rest backed away leisurely. There was no hint of panic at all on their faces. The magic wall covered the entire opening where they had retreated to. None of the three guild members could go through the wall to get to them. The duration of a level 1 Magic Wall was one minute long, Jack didn't know what level of the magic scroll that John had used. But even one minute was enough time for them to put a distance from the mob.
While the three guild members were frustratingly beating at the magic wall, several figures appeared at the tops of the rock formations. The rock formations were not all separate entities. Some had connecting rock bridges spanning from one to the others. Which connected with pathways that allowed players to go up there if they knew the way. With the confusing maze layout of the rock formations, it would take a long time of exploring to find these routes. John certainly had prepared this plan for a while.
Jack had known about the players hiding at the top there from his radar, he didn't warn the three guild members that were with him. He would be able to defend himself even if they were ambushed.
The players that appeared on top were mostly Magicians. They didn't waste any time. They hurled their spells and magic range attacks at the people underneath. The attacks rained down and damage the crowding mob below. They had no chance to evade as all of them were crowding in to destroy the wall. Even if the magicians up there threw their attacks randomly without aiming, they could still hit someone.
The magicians on the ground were not to be outdone. They started casting their spells and hurled them up there, but most of them dissipated after traveling a distance. Jack learned something new from these exchanges, on how height affected range attacks.
Range attack sent from higher elevation could travel a longer distance, while one sent from a lower ground would have their range reduced. A normal Mana Bullet could travel ten meters, when the magicians from down here cast the spell to target the players up there, the spell disappeared after only traveling seven to eight meters. While the height of the players standing atop the rock formations was around twelve to fifteen meters, the same Mana Bullets threw from up there were still going strong after reaching the ground.
John had obviously known about this high-ground feature to choose such a strategy here. Jack couldn't help but admit that the guy did have the right to treat this assault by more than a hundred players lightly.
There were also a few Rangers up there with the Magicians, they used their skill Throw Weapon. The Throw Weapon normally had a range of 8 meters, but it was also affected by height advantage, allowing this class to also inflict damage to the mob below without any retaliation. Their shortcomings compared to Magicians were the long cooldown of their range attacks.
The ones who had received damage took out their recovery items to replenish their HP. One of them, who was a magician, stood just a few feet from Jack. The rain of attacks didn't fall on Jack, but even if they did, he had no problem nullifying it. He could just simply swat the attack using his staff. His physical attack easily surpassed the common magician's attack. Even if he couldn't swing his staff, he could simply put it in front for a Parry. This fighter's skill of his would reduce the attack's damage.
As the magician close to Jack was about to drink his potion. A burst of shadow struck the guy's forehead. Jack was rather startled by the sudden quick attack. Upon closer inspection, he found out that the thing that hit the guy's head was an arrow. The vital hit had caused a critical hit upon its victim. The critical damage devoured the remaining HP from the magician and he fell lifelessly to the ground.
An archer?
Jack looked up to where the arrow had come from, and saw a young girl with wavy brown hair that fell until her shoulder. She was holding a blue short bow in his hand.
Fierce Flame? What was she doing here?
Her proud posture added to the chilling aura surrounding her as she continued to pull arrows from her quiver and shot at the players below who had been damaged by the magicians. All of her arrows targeted those with the lowest health, trying to take out their lives before they could recover their HP with a potion. Because of her arrows, more players drop to the ground with an empty life bar.
It felt like this was the first time he saw her. She had always fought on his side, now that she was on the opposite sides, he realized what a menace she could be. An archer placed on a favorable terrain could really be a grim menace. If he was going at her seriously, he would also be at a loss at what to do in this situation. Luckily, he was actually rooting at the failure of this mission.
The Magic Wall finally crumbled, either it had run out of its duration, or the combined assault of the players banging on it had finally accumulated enough damage to shatter it. At this time however, John and the others were some distance away. Weirdly though, they did not continue to run, they were just standing there as if waiting for the three guilds to come at them.