"We made it out!"
"We actually survived…"
"But at what price..."
After finally reaching safety, the soldiers couldn't hold back their emotions anymore. This battle was too terrifying for them. As inhabitants of Crunaboul they had a different reverence for the powerful figures like Therim and Iss'ir. Just hearing their names could invoke either fear or admiration. But facing such enemies the pressure was indescribable. Although before the campaign everyone knew that death was a very real possibility, who would want to die if they could avoid it?
The players however were little affected by the atmosphere. Everyone wore bright smiles as they had received generous rewards for their tasks. The task of destroying the barrier was evaluated as an S, handing out 150 points. On top of that there were 50 points for everyone participating in the destruction of a power source. And even the conditions for 'participating' were quite generous, including everyone who managed to enter one of the secret rooms even if they didn't damage the bosses at all.
"Haha, following Dream Avenue was the best decision."
"Yeah, from now on let's just stick around them."
"Bleary Mirage, thanks a lot!"
The players who followed Dream Avenue earlier joked around. They basically received the maximum reward with minimum effort, really a great deal.
At this moment Therim slowly landed from the sky. He and Oniarohl both looked rather exhausted. The elven princess even had clear signs of damage on her armor. Her fight against Iss'ir had been anything but easy. She knew that if they continued she might have lost against the shadow demon.
"I really didn't expect this…"
The princess shook her head. She needed to rest and replay the fight in her mind to learn from it. Although she was powerful, she felt that she was far from her limit!
Observing everyone's condition, Therim announced that the army would rest for half an hour. The suggestion was welcomed by everyone except for the players who were sent on guard duty again. Luckily there were no enemies in sight far and wide. The rest ended and the army continued. Without the black fog blocking their way they could take a detour, avoiding Gnemotrimn's Will. Their march was sped up by the game and after a couple of minutes they swiftly approached their target.
In the distance there was a massive plaza paved with black stone. It was lined with heaven-reaching pillars and menacing statues. As the army approached everyone could fell the extremely dark and evil aura surrounding the statues. With just one look one would be sucked into endless darkness, never to escape.
"Hmpf!"
Ogruz snorted loudly, waking those who had been affected. Everyone had their backs drenched in sweat, quickly lowering their heads, not daring to look anymore.
"Don't look at these statues. They are depicting the strongest of devils and contain some devilish magic. Your minds are far from resilient enough to endure their might."
"Yes, commander…"
The soldiers answered with shivering voices. However, compared to them the players were less affected. Although they received all kinds of negative status effects, they didn't feel that kind of deep horror. They admired the devils, branding their appearances in their minds, just in case they ever came across a devil in the wild.
For many it was the first time they got a sense of the strength and looks of devils. Only a few players like Liam and his friends recognized one or two of them. Even the kind players who loved to browse through Crunaboul's libraries would not find much information about devils other than big warning signs.
"Really, these devils have no sense of fashion. What's with all those spikes? And do they only know black? I have to say, in comparison our order faction's heroes are much better.", joked Cyclone.
"Hm, I agree. But overall, their appearances are still alright. I expected devils to look more… monstrous.", said Silver Blade, her words prompting Liam to explain:
"All devils are proficient in transformation. They will mostly appear in a humanoid form before others. Those who have seen devils in their original forms rarely live to tell the tale."
While the friends were conversing, they had already taken in the scene and their eyes stopped on the two devil statues at the centre. They were burly men, their menacing faces containing a certain similarity to orcs. However, what was special about them wasn't their appearance but the massive gate they held in their hands. The gate was made from some unknown black material, its wings slightly ajar. It was extremely tall, easily big enough to fit multiple war trolls. The only person Liam and his friends knew who wouldn't fit through the gate was Zelgor the titan. Behind the gate one could only see a deep, swirling darkness like a portal leading into the abyss. Or rather into hell…
The NPC soldiers had also noticed the portal. They felt quite apprehensive knowing what laid behind the portal. Hell, a place inciting terror in the inhabitants of Crunaboul. But they were about to step into it…
"We will have to rest here for a bit."
It was hard to say if Therim's words brought relief or even more pressure to the soldiers. However, they had no choice but to follow the commander. Thus, the army rested next to the black portal, enduring the ominous atmosphere.
At first the players didn't care much but after a while they also felt some anxiousness. It couldn't be helped. Now that they had nothing to do, they had a lot of time to observe the two bars showing the event's progress. Although the blue bar was already quite advanced, not far from filling completely, it had nearly stopped moving at the moment. Instead, it was the red bar which was shrinking gradually, already dropping to below four million points. One could only imagine the fierce battles going on elsewhere.
After a while the players felt relieved as the blue bar filled by another small margin. The order faction must have won a battle somewhere. Not much later some movement could be seen in the distance. Within a billowing dust cloud an army was advancing at a brisk pace. A familiar figure was floating in the air above them. A graceful nephilim with black and white wings, who else could it be but Lewriova?
"Reinforcements!"
"So we are waiting for the other armies? Now I get it!"
Everyone craned their necks to observe the newcomers. As they came closer, Balm spoke to her friends:
"There, look! At the front of the army are Earthquake and Callida!"
"Oh, you're right!"
Not only Balm but many others also recognized some familiar faces. The players showed happy smiles as they welcomed their friends. Earthquake and Callida brought some guild members over to Dream Avenue's side, chatting about their experiences.
Although the army led by Lewriova was smaller, they went through a similar number of battles, providing many tasks to the players. The event was fair in this regard, ensuring that all players had the chance to earn a similar number of points. If someone was dissatisfied with their points, it was an issue of personal skill and not the fault of the game.
With the addition of the newcomers, the scene quickly became lively. The oppressive atmosphere was ignored by the players. And as they laughed and joked around, the blue progress bar step by step neared completion, showing that the situation was improving.
One by one more armies won their battles and arrived in front of the gathered armies. The NPC armies amazed the players. Dwarves, orcs, elves, every race sent their own heroes. The players proudly showed off their knowledge as they introduced the famous NPCs and boasted about the quests they had completed for them. Be it high elves from the Moon Goddess Temple, dwarves from the Mechanical Battalion, or the elite army of Fort Skyguard under the Rising Basilisk Empire.
Of course, compared to the armies, the commanders were even more impressive. Original Nephilim Lewriova, Guardian Therim Riverbell, King of Basilisks Lennreo, Shield of Deep Bell City Efrit Greyoak, Orc Chieftain Ogruz, Third Prince of the Rising Basilisk Empire Hohntall…
All those powerful NPC could normally only be seen on rare occasions, but now they were all gathered here. This made it obvious how important the upcoming battle would be. For this war the order faction mobilized most of their strength. Less than half of the guardians remained to protect their homeland.
The army continued to grow. Soon, there were more than 800.000 NPCs and 30.000 players, an incredibly grand scene. With so much power even invading Hell didn't seem unrealistic. Everyone waited for the commanders to give the signal. But suddenly the players noticed something which filled them with dread.
"Damn, the red bar shrunk by more than three hundred thousand points at once!"
"I don't have a good feeling about this…"
The players didn't have to guess for long. Soon, people appeared in the global chat bearing the bad news. One of the armies had been wiped out completely. This was quite the hit to the players' morale. However, the NPC commanders didn't seem to be affected that much. Only losing a single army along the way was already better than they had expected.