Bloody Edge squatted outside the fortress, his body pressed against a rock. He peaked at the enemies in the distance with a deeply pondering expression. Suddenly he felt something. Did the shadow over there just fluctuate? Enemy scouts?
The thief held his breath, ceasing all movements. According to the map he was one of the scouts closest to the fortress. There should be no one close to him. Whoever was sneaking around could only be an enemy. Bloody Edge didn't know if being spotted would cause his task to fail. There was nothing of the sort written in the task description. Yet it wouldn't hurt to be cautious.
Eyes focusing on the shadow not far away Bloody Edge remained motionless. In his mind he went through his knowledge about chaos faction thieves. There were many classes thieves of the chaos faction could change to after reaching level 10 but the most common among them was Shadow Stalker. As the name said Shadow Stalkers were extremely difficult to spot while hiding in shadows but had a great weakness to light. They were strong in dim places like hell but here in the Southern Wasteland they were met with many difficulties.
And indeed, just as Bloody Edge was thinking this, the shadow fluctuated again. This time Bloody Edge could clearly see a distortion in the air as the enemy scurried towards the next shadowy spot. Now would be a great chance to attack. Someone with the shadow stalker class was not likely to be a top player. But Bloody Edge couldn't guarantee to take the enemy out without being noticed. Thus, he refrained from acting until a few second later when he was certain that the enemy had passed by him. He sent a quick message to his allies before sneaking closer to the fortress.
Bloody Edge was cautious but also confident. After all this time he had also become a true top thief, greatly proficient in hiding his trail. His steps only stirred up a minimal amount of dust and there was no sound at all. Clad in stealth he slowly approached the fortress. Suddenly a wave of dark magic erupted from the fortress. This was a measure to detect invisible enemies. Bloody Edge froze in place. The wave ended right in front of Bloody Edge's feet, just as he had planned.
The moment the magic dissipated the thief sped up and approached the fortress wall from the side. With an army in front of its doors and insufficiently garrisoned there were some gaps in the fortress's defence. Bloody Edge planned to make use of one of those. He rushed up towards the wall and retrieved a throwing hook from his inventory. With a skilled throw the hook landed on top of the wall and found a tight grip.
Bloody Edge delayed for a second waiting for the reaction of the guards. Seeing no movement from them he pulled the rope taut and nimbly scaled the walls. Bloody Edge couldn't help but remember his physical education classes of the past. Back then he didn't have his current muscles. He hated rope climbing. Only later when he felt the need to impress a certain classmate did he start to improve his physical fitness.
Well, these fond memories were in the past now. With his current body gained through levelling up there was no difficulty in climbing a rope.
In a flash Bloody Edge reached the top of the wall and vaulted over the battlement. He crouched on top of the black stone and surveyed his surroundings. The closest guards were some distance away. Yet they were patrolling slowly and would reach Bloody Edge in about thirty seconds. He had to hide before that. But where? Should he drop down into the fortress?
Studying the fortress below Bloody Edge thought that it looked exactly as one would expect from a fortress built by infernals. Black buildings adorned with various sharp spikes looking as menacing as possible. Bones served as decorations. There were a few plants, but they didn't look as if anyone cared for them. However, Bloody Edge didn't scan the fortress for a long time when he immediately noticed something. A large number of soldiers were leaving through a big gate at the back. They were evacuating the fortress!
As soon as Bloody Edge made this discovery, he received a notification. The tasks issued during the war had varying levels of completion from D to S. But other than quests, these tasks were displaying the levels of completion constantly. And now Bloody Edge's completion rate updated to an S. He realised that there was nothing left for him to do. His job as a scout was done. Thus, he didn't enter the fortress but instead descended the wall the way he came from before hastily escaping into the distance.
A few second later the patrolling guards arrived and noticed the grappling hook, immediately issuing an alarm. But Bloody Edge didn't care. There were no surprises on the way as he returned to the army and reported his findings.
"I understand. Good job."
One of the two generals, an older human man carrying a heavy battleaxe going by the nickname Blood Axe, nodded lightly as the scouts reported one by one. He communicated with Therim and the other general, a female wood elf in green leather armour called Phey, discussing their plan.
They quickly came to a conclusion. Since the enemies were already evacuating, the fortress's defence was weakened. Now was the perfect opportunity to attack. It would be foolish to let the enemy escape and reorganize elsewhere. No matter what the infernals were planning, their army had to keep as many of the demons behind as possible.
"Let's go!"
With the signal coming from Therim the army finally got moving. A tense atmosphere engulfed them as everyone got ready for battle. The army made up of multiple races was like a noble sword preparing to eliminate the enemies of its righteous cause.
Soon, they arrived within the range of the enemy's siege weapons. Black arrows, massive in size, broke through the air targeting the army.
"Shields!"
Magic flashed as barriers appeared at the targeted locations. The two tank units marching at the front, heavily armoured dwarves and orcs, were fearless in the face of the arrows brimming with dark magic.
Boom!
The first clash between light and darkness. Magical barriers rippled and roared but they held on under the dark arrows. Yet the dark projectiles couldn't be solved that easily. Blocked by the barriers they erupted with tremendous explosions covering the advancing army in a cloud of dark fog.
"Ah!"
"It hurts!"
The dark magic slipped through the weak spots between various barriers and fell on the soldiers. Whoever breathed in only a tiny amount was hit with unbearable pain which made even the most disciplined soldier tear up.
"Dispel!"
At the back of the army various priests in white robes waved their staffs. Dazzling white light fell from the sky, dispelling the black fog. The tanks took deep breaths and forced themselves to continue marching but their vitality had definitely taken damage.
Meanwhile the players were following to the left and right of the army. They didn't mix with the soldiers as this would only disrupt the formation. Thus, they had a good look at everything that was happening. The players were left in awe. The NPC soldiers were mostly between level 40 to 65, but the might unleashed when they worked together couldn't be explained solely with numbers. Even Therim when facing such an army would be forced to retreat.
Some players imagined what would happen if 10.000 players fought against a NPC army of the same size. Would the players win due to the better average gear, or would the NPCs win through their flawless cooperation?
Well, they might find out soon enough. But for now, it was the NPCs' time to shine. Constantly casting protective spells, the army slowly approached the fortress. They quickly improved their strategy, aiming to destroy the dark arrows while still in the sky, succeeding about fifty percent of the time. Strangely, Therim didn't make a move to block the arrows. The mage was saving his strength while constantly scanning the distance for top-notch enemies. He followed the strategy of meeting soldiers with soldiers and generals with generals.
After less than five minutes the army arrived in front of the fortress. Finally, they could retaliate. Instantly an exchange of arrows and magic broke out. The army was hit with curses while dark explosions erupted in their ranks. Simultaneously flames and lightning rained down above the fortress. A small unit of wood elves showed off their power. Like modern snipers they remained in the distance, keeping outside the range of enemy archers. Yet their own arrows easily bridged the vast distance, precisely threatening the enemy's officers, disrupting their ranks.
However, the effect was not that pronounced. The chaos faction remained true to their name, fighting chaotically. There was not much resemblance of discipline. And yet they were not ineffective. The combination of sinister curses and dark arrows posed a lot of trouble to the army. The dirty tricks of the chaos faction were difficult to defend against forcing the priests to work tirelessly.