Therim was hovering in the sky, staring at the domain of flames with worried eyes. He was constantly contemplating if he should make a move. However, he also knew that at least one powerful enemy was still around. The one who performed the teleportation earlier. Thus, Therim constantly had to remain on guard.
Fortunately, the situation changed before Therim decided to make a move. The domain which had been flickering more and more dangerously finally seemed to lose its support. The flames dissipated and revealed the battlefield.
A scorched ground with blackened rocks everywhere. The tall devil servant was on his knees, appearing greatly exhausted. The two generals were to his left and right. They made for sorry figures but since they were still able to fight, their injuries couldn't be too bad. Surrounding the weakened devil servant were the adventurers. Therim could tell that they were short of close to 1000 people. However, this was the ugly side of war.
Fortunately, the adventurers hadn't lost their fighting spirit despite the heavy casualties. After recognizing the changes, they instantly attacked the devil from all sides, roaring for revenge.
Of course, this was just Therim's imagination. Why would the players care about casualties? As long as those who died weren't from their own guilds they couldn't care less. Especially since this was still the first death for everyone. They could be revived once and still join the campaign afterwards. Rather than thinking about the defeated players it was more important to take down the world boss and earn some points.
Those were the thoughts of the players as they beat up the weakened world boss. In the eyes of others, they were almost like little devils themselves, kicking the enemy while they were down. But of course, the players wouldn't consider nonsense like that. It was the most basic gaming wisdom to attack a boss in the gaps between attacks. Only that this gap would probably last forever as Reygorv's HP finally dropped to zero.
"To think I would... die here. Farewell… master."
The devil servant wheezed his last words before finally falling to the floor, ceasing all movement.
"Haha! Let's go!"
"Level 70 boss? Not that impressive after all!"
"Rewards! Rewards!"
Instantly excited shouts came from the crowd of players, earning them strange gazes from the NPCs. But the players didn't care as they celebrated the death of the world boss. And when the rich rewards arrived, the mood only improved even more. The rewards were twofold this time. On one hand everyone received 45 points for the completion of the task. On the other hand, there was the EXP granted by the world boss. Although the EXP were reduced since the players weren't fighting alone, it was still a tidy sum. Liam and his friends each received around 8.000 EXP, coming one step closer towards level 58.
Receiving so much EXP at once the players became even more fervent. Earlier, as they sieged the fortress, the few guards they killed together with the NPC army were only worth a pitiful amount of EXP. But this devil servant was a big boss. It was so generous. The players only hoped that their enemies could summon more high-levelled monsters. Some players messaged their friends below level 50, asking them to go offline and write some forum posts to provoke the chaos faction into sending more high-levelled enemies their way. Of course, all of this was just for fun. The players had no control over such summoning. But it soon caused a thrilling war of words in the forums, making the event even more lively.
"Adventurers, you did well this time."
"Yes. Only thanks to your help could we deal with the devil servant's domain this quickly."
The two generals were still recovering when they delivered their thanks to the players.
"No need to thank us."
"We are just doing our job."
"Give us some extra points if you are really thankful."
The players laughed and joked until Therim and the NPC army approached. The commander allowed the two generals to recover for a few minutes while sending out scouts again. The reports quickly came back. As expected, the bridge at the end of the pass had been destroyed. Furthermore, there were enemies positioned at the other side of the river, ready to attack.
The engineers coming with the army had ways to quickly construct a rudimentary bridge but with the enemies occupying a superior position at the other side of the river they couldn't just walk up and begin the construction. Therim pondered while letting his eyes wander over the adventurers. The mage had clearly taken a liking to these troops who were so eager to jump into battle with no fear of death.
Immediately a new task was issued. 1500 players were quick enough to accept the task before all slots were filled. Liam and his friends were among the lucky few. Well, not all of them. A certain blond mage stomped her foot. She had been distracted as she walked around the world boss looking for loot. She couldn't accept that the high-level monster wouldn't drop anything. Unfortunately, this was part of the event. If the world boss were to drop loot it might just lead to a fight between the players which would naturally be quite detrimental to the order faction's efforts to win a war.
Fortunately, a few seconds later a new task was given out, one which could be claimed by all players with ranged attacks. Cyclone was among the first to snatch it feeling at least somewhat relieved inside.
A short while later movement came into the players as the five warships returned. They landed on the ground, standing firmly on their flat floors. Parts of their hulls opened, becoming wooden planks for the players to enter.
The 1500 players who managed to snatch the task rushed towards the warships, eager to observe these impressive weapons from the inside.
"Damn, so many magic circles."
"The mana in the air is incredibly dense!"
"Are those magic cannons? Can we try them out?"
The players chattered as they scattered through the warship under the instructions of NPCs. Each ship accepted three hundred players. Any more and the crew wouldn't have any space left to walk. The warships were at their limit. The crew members were annoyed as they made sure the chaotic players didn't touch anything that shouldn't be touched. It was fortunate that the ships didn't travel far with the players on board.
After the hulls closed again the ships swiftly set off. The warships traversed the sky and the players on top of the deck were amazed as they enjoyed the sight.
"Woah, did you see that?"
"What are those explosions over there?"
"It should be the other armies fighting, right?"
"Look, there in the distance, another monster! That one's even bigger than the devil servant just now, isn't it?"
"How many EXP could we earn by killing that…"
"Stop dreaming! Can we even kill that?"
While the players were talking, the warships quickly approached the river, trying to reach the other side. Below them were the fortified positions of the chaos faction. However, suddenly the warships slowed down as a flock of large, black demonic birds appeared in the sky. Those were beasts used by the chaos faction specifically to deal flying enemies, including warships.
The birds circled high in the sky before diving down at the warships. It was no secret that the vessels were weak against enemies coming from above.
"Screee!"
Piercing cries rang through the air, chilling the players to the bone. They looked upwards watching the big birds, their black wings wide open, their four feet equipped with terrifying claws. No one doubted that they would tear the balloons carrying the warships into pieces if they came too close.
However, the order faction naturally knew the weakness of their own warships. They had thoroughly prepared for this war. How could they not come up with a solution?
"Hahaha, look at this treasure!"
A dwarf with a beard almost reaching the floor stood at the stern of one of the warships. The ship's wooden body was longer than the balloon above it. The dwarf looked towards the sky, watching the incoming birds as he tore away a white cloth hiding a certain construct in front of him. What got revealed was a weapon resembling a multi-barrelled machine gun, its muzzles directed towards the sky. In front of the dwarf were a few levers. He pulled them with nimble hands, adjusting the weapon to aim at the dense birds.
"Fire!"
The dwarf's command reached all five warships. Instantly arrows were shot from the new weapons at a frequency of multiple arrows per second. The birds were completely caught off guard. Those in the lead had no chance to dodge. They were pierced by the arrows, their proud feathers not enough to protect them. Instantly the first few birds fell from the sky. Angry screeches could be heard as the demonic birds scattered. The crowd was thinned out making them a less obvious target but also increasing the difficulty of attacking the warships. After all, no bird dared to descend to the height of the main bodies of the warships or they would be turned into roasted meat.