After the initial shock some players thought it through. Would they really receive such an impossible task? Surely not, right? There had to be some kind of trick.
"Let's trust the commander…"
With those words the first batch of players gathered all their courage and rushed towards the fortress. On the way they received surprisingly few attacks. The chaos faction kept focusing on the army, disregarding these few suicidal idiots. However, with someone leading by example more players gritted their teeth and rushed ahead. And since no one wanted to lose points eventually all the players began to move.
"Look, they are actually coming!"
"Haha, idiots!"
"Are all the players going to suicide? Damn, their commander must be using them as cannon fodder. We should thank him later. Hahaha."
The chaos faction players were overjoyed, laughing and shouting. They received the task to kill the enemies invading the fortress and naturally accepted without hesitation. A row of demon players stood in front of a massive gate in the inner wall. They had bright grins as they waved their weapons, provoking the approaching order faction players. Even in the face of thousands of enemies they were not afraid knowing that as soon as the order faction players entered, they would be surrounded like lambs waiting to be slaughtered.
Especially when they heard the rustling of chains behind them, the chaos faction players knew that the NPCs were enacting additional measures to secure the gate, finalizing the death trap.
On the other side of the gate. A tall warrior with two black wings bellowed angrily:
"Hurry up! You useless slaves! The enemies are coming! Secure the gate!"
Dark nephilim always held an ambiguous stance. Quite a few of them had joined the chaos faction, enticed by the temptation of regaining their dark magic. Those dark nephilim who stayed with the order faction were either greatly weakened or found some other means to retain their power, like relying on artifacts. This led to a situation where dark nephilim often received the scorn of both factions.
However, the chaos faction had an emphasize on strength. Everyone strong enough could get into an important position. Hexrat had to endure a lot until he managed to secure the high-profile job of overseeing a gate in the famous Gnemotrimn's Will.
The dark nephilim looked down on all those weaklings without ambition. Just look at those slaves in front of him. Despite belonging to prominent races like demons and mist dwarves all they were good for was pulling the chains to let down the heavy metallic gate, which served as the third barrier. Even if the wooden gate at the front should be destroyed, there were still the two metallic gates empowered with magic, enough to block the enemy's advance.
"Don't you hear that commotion?! Faster!"
Hexrat bellowed again. He swung his whip, striking a thin demon in the face, causing a long, bloody wound.
"Captain?"
"Yes?"
At that moment one of the guards came from behind Hexrat. He glanced over his shoulder, noticing the bedraggled person caught in the man's hand, probably a spy. Just as the guard was about to talk, his eyes went wide as he let out a panicked shout:
"Careful!"
But it was already too late. At that moment, Hexrat, along with the nearby guards were engulfed in a thick, grey mist. The metallic sound of swift weapons could be heard. When the mist dissipated only a burly mist dwarf in ragged clothes could be seen standing amidst a bunch of headless corpses. Blood was still dripping from his inconspicuous grey daggers.
Immediately all the 'slaves', as if previously agreed upon, changed directions. The heavy crank they were pushing turned and the previously unfurling metallic chain was rolled up again. The metallic gates moved upwards. A few slaves rushed towards two levers, moved some heavy wooden blocks away, and suddenly the wooden gate gradually opened. There was nothing left blocking the enemies.
Outside, the row of demon players heard some strange sounds and felt a breeze coming from their backs. Confused, they glanced over their shoulders and instantly their faces turned pale, their knees giving in.
And not far away the order faction players who rushed at the front had their eyes light up.
"The gates are open!"
"Let's hurry up! Don't stop!"
"Awesome, Therim really didn't send us on a suicide mission."
"Ignore those chaos faction idiots! Focus on the task!"
One move and the entire situation changed. The previously confident chaos faction players were shocked, unable to cope with the situation for a moment. Before the chaos faction could react, the few demons guarding the gate were already overrun and the first order faction players passed the inner wall, hastening their pace to the core wall. And to the horror of the chaos faction even the gate of the core wall was wide open.
"Traitors! How DARE you!!!"
A voice like a wrathful ghost echoed through the entire fortress, causing all the shadows to fluctuate like crazy. Liam and his friends already recognized the voice of Iss'ir, Master of shadows. However, at that moment an invisible pressure came from the order faction. Iss'ir knew that if he dared to strike, Therim would instantly take the opportunity when he was distracted to deliver a heavy blow.
Of course, Iss'ir wasn't the only high-level being of the chaos faction present. But Therim was similarly not alone. Thus, a situation occurred where the NPCs held each other back and Iss'ir could only issue a task to the players.
"Good, good, good. So you order faction dregs now know how to play dirty! We'll see who will have the last laugh."
While Iss'ir was seething in rage he was somewhat puzzled as well. Usually it was them, the chaos faction, who were good at stirring up trouble and enticing others to betrayal. Traitors among the chaos faction had basically never appeared before. So how did the order faction do it? How did they reach those stationed in Gnemotrimn's Will, one of the most secure places belonging to the chaos faction? Suddenly Iss'ir couldn't help but shiver, getting an ominous premonition.
No matter what Iss'ir was thinking, the battle had to continue. The order faction players managed to reach the core of the fortress. Up ahead was the black tower, looming over them like an invincible demon. The barrier protecting it could be seen with the naked eye.
Liam and his friends were among the second batch of players entering the core area. Silver Blade studied her surroundings and habitually used [Inspect] on the barrier.
"Huh, only one million HP? This seems a bit lacklustre, doesn't it?"
The female tank was slightly puzzled. Others made the same discovery. With the mindset of giving it a try, a few mages, including Cyclone and Fortune, threw some attacks at the barrier. Even if they only dealt a single point of damage, it would be possible to destroy the barrier eventually. However, their dreams were directly squashed as they realized that the barrier recovered all the damage in mere moments. As long as they couldn't destroy the barrier in one hit it was impossible get rid of it.
"Ok guys, let's stop fooling around. We should follow the task."
"Sure."
"Lead the way."
Liam's friends naturally followed his suggestion. There was some empty space around the tower but towards the wall there were still a lot of buildings. Black, menacing, decorated with spikes and bones, the typical aesthetic of the chaos faction. None of the buildings stood out starkly. The order faction players would have to search for a while to find the four power sources. Of course, this didn't apply to Liam and his friends. They went straight towards a certain building and entered. Dream Avenue's members quickly followed, as well as some other players who observed their decisive movements.
Once inside the building Liam and his friends saw what looked like a simple warehouse. But Liam rushed straight towards the back wall. If one were to use inspect, they could see that a certain part of the wall had a lot less HP. With a few attacks from Hotpot, it crumbled quickly, revealing a secret chamber with a teleporter behind.
Without hesitation Liam led his friends to the teleporter. A light flashed and they appeared in a dim room which was below the core area. Their surroundings were made of rough stone without any windows. The only source of light was a chandelier hanging from the ceiling, spreading a red-orange light. There was a throne ahead with a demon sitting on top of it. Without any movement he caused ice crystals to spontaneously form on the ground around him.
Behind the throne there was a strange pillar of black magic, blocking the view on something.
At this moment the demon slowly raised his head, staring at the players.
"Intruders actually managed to reach here… I never thought it possible…"
The demon spoke in a faint, hoarse voice. His expression was incredibly arrogant. However, it slowly changed as more and more players appeared. 10, 50, 100…
When more than four hundred players filled the underground chamber, the demon's hand holding the staff began to tremble.