Chapter 600 - 600. Deadly Ambushers
In the territory outside Heavenly Citadel, Manager Steelhand stood as he watched the coalition forces clash with Everlasting Heavenly Legends' forces at various spots. The terrains were difficult for them to group everyone together, there were many chokepoints, so it became a group fight at many different locations.
To make matter worse, they found out these chokepoints were filled with traps. Many of their players received damage and were immobilized when stepping onto these traps, becoming sitting ducks for enemies' attacks.
Additionally, Everlasting Heavenly Legends had a large number of native soldiers. Their numbers were not less compared to theirs who were top veteran guilds. The coalition players had trouble trying to punch through the defense, despite their sudden assault and superior number.
Manager Steelhand held a small crystal in his hand. Scarface and the other coalition leaders stood beside him. There was a middle-aged man who was a level 45 Gunner stood with them as well, he was not part of the coalition. His name was Regim and his guild was called Jackal Crews.
"All right. Our researches tell us only the native soldiers of one guild can be summoned. Corporate United will be the one to volunteer the force," Manager Steelhand said to the coalition leaders. "But I need your words that any of you who managed to get into their Guild Hall will prioritize destroying our Guild Hostage Token."
"You have my words," Scarface replied. The other leaders followed suit.
Manager Steelhand then turned to Regim and said, "It's time for you to show your worth."
"Don't worry. We are not gamers like you people, we are professionals," Regim said.
The others felt offended hearing his comment. It was true that many gamers still played games for fun and entertainment like in the olden days. But most of the top guilds here were also professionals, who made a living out of the games they played.
Yet, no one rebuked this man, because this man used to be a soldier before the world changed. Everyone in his guild was either a soldier, ex-soldier, or mercenary. They dabbled in the profession of life and death. Their guild was a newly formed guild that was formed when these spread out soldiers found each other after some time. They were not gamers but their adaptability made them fast learners.
After coming together and forming a guild, they approached the top guilds to sell their expertise, becoming a mercenary guild. Corporate United who had vast connections immediately found out about them and called for their service in this invasion.
After getting confirmation from all the leaders here, Manager Steelhand activated the crystal in his hand. It was a Guild Army Summoning Crystal. This was the tool to summon a guild's native soldier into the enemy guild's territory.
Shortly, the space around the coalition leaders was filled to the brim with native soldiers. Corporate United had been diligent in increasing their native forces. Despite a reduction in their resources due to paying a portion to Everlasting Heavenly Legends, they still managed to build a force that was slightly larger than Everlasting Heavenly Legends.
The native soldiers that were summoned here were around eight hundred in number. Comprised of Archers, Knights, Cavalries, Mages, Healers, and Housecarls. Housecarls were a variant of footsoldier that were produced from a rare soldier token. Housecarls carried axes and large shields, they were highly resistant against range attacks.
After the native army was summoned. The crystal in Steelhand's hand turned into a miniature platform that was rooted at the place it was activated. This became the base for the invading force. If this platform was destroyed, all the invading native soldiers would be returned to their headquarters.
The platform showed a map of Heavenly Citadel's territory. Most of the map was covered by grey fog. The eight hundred units were shown inside this map interface. Manager Steelhand could give his native army orders from this platform.
"All right, let's move out!" Manager Steelhand said and started sending instructions to the native soldiers.
*
Corporate United's trained units spread out and assisted the coalition players who were still having a problem breaking through the choke points. With the sudden boost in their enemy's manpower, Everlasting Heavenly Legends had trouble keeping their defensive line. They continued getting pushed.
Utilizing the time when their armies were holding the line, Jeanny and the core members had regrouped with the others. She re-organized the members to mount an effective defensive effort. But after the emergence of Corporate United's native army, the situation looked grim.
While Jeanny was still trying to distribute the manpower to hold the line, troubling reports started coming in. The reports mentioned that a small number of opponents had managed to sneak in through the supposedly untraversable terrain and ambushed their defense from behind. Each of these opponents was very skillful and they had lost many casualties.
Seeing that the defense line started to crumble. Jeanny issued a tactical withdrawal. They were to regroup at the wall gate. They would make a final stand there similar during the last battle.
Jeanny sent the core member experts to help with the withdrawal. These opponents mentioned in the report sounded troublesome. She didn't want them to lose too much manpower or they wouldn't be able to make a stand at the wall gate.
Jeanny also tried sending a message to Jack about their current situation, but she received a reply that her message was blocked. Jack had probably gone into an area that jam the transfer of messages. This caused Jeanny to worry even more.
*
At one of the choke points where a squad of Everlasting Heavenly Legends members was retreating, the native soldiers were doing their best to block the enemy's advance while slowly retreating with the players. The players were at the back, but they were currently being harassed by some enemy players.
These players were fewer in number than them yet it was the Everlasting Heavenly Legends players who were having difficulty trying to survive.
These small number of opponents were all from the guild Jackal Crews, and almost all of them were using the Assassin or Gunner class. The reason was that almost every soldier when they were offered their class' choices at the start, chose the dagger weapon. A longsword was impractical while a staff wasn't deadly enough. A dagger was what they were familiar with.
Afterward, when the choice came to Archer and Rogue, it was mostly fifty-fifty for them. The one that chose Archer was because it allowed them to fight in range, something they were good at despite the weapon being a primitive one. While those that chose rogues because they still find themselves more familiar with a dagger compared to a bow or crossbow.
When the elite class choice arrived, it was a more easy choice. Gunner would be every soldier's preferred choice. While for the ones that had picked rogue class, they stuck with the dagger specialist type which was the Assassin class. Hence why this guild had so little variety in classes between its members.
Even so, it didn't make them less deadly. All they needed was their killer instincts. The game skills and attributes were only accessories in their opinion.
"Hahaha… These kids were sheep!" One of the Jackal Crews assassins named Lenny exclaimed. Most of the Everlasting Heavenly Legends were players who used to play games just for fun. That's why the majority were young people. Lenny easily weaved through the arrows shot by a teenager who was still an archer class. When he arrived before the teenager, he stabbed his dagger onto the teenager's throat without hesitation, resulting in a critical hit.
"Damn! I'm still not used to seeing people being alive after getting stabbed on the throat," Lenny said and delivered a few more hits to finish the teenager archer off.
"Stay sharp! Don't get careless," the leader of their team here, who was Regim, warned.
"Don't worry, boss. With me here, this mission is as good as complete. Let's head over to aid the other teams once we are done here," Lenny said, clearly not heeding Regim's warning.
"Hey! They send reinforcements," his teammate said. They turned and saw two people approaching. They were the experts Jeanny sent to assist with the withdrawal.
"What reinforcements? Only two people. You guys finish up here. I will deal with these so-called reinforcements," Lenny said and headed off.
Regim watched Lenny go. He wanted to say something but decided against it. This guy liked to brag but his skill was indeed genuine. Let him do what he did best, Regim thought. Even though their opponents here were inexperienced youths, these youths still outnumbered them. They only dealt with the players, they avoided the native soldiers as those natives' HP was very high. It would take too long a time to deal with those natives. All they needed to do was create enough disturbance to allow their client's force to break through.
Lenny, in the meantime, was getting closer to the two reinforcements.
"Eh? Not a youth this time?" He uttered when he had a clear look at his opponents. One was indeed a youth in a white robe. Lenny did Inspect and found this youth to be a level 43 Priest.. The other was an armored old man, a level 44 Weapon Master.