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* **Back to Wynwater City. Forty minutes earlier.**

A dense swarm of shadows surged from the distance, their sheer number and movement sending chills down anyone’s spine.

Figures began to flicker into view before the Heaven’s Accord formation.

“Guildmaster, I’ve got eyes on the monsters’ stats. But only two kinds of mobs are visible, the rest are too far to make out.”
“It’s fine. Good work.”
“Should I return to the group then?”
“Go.”

In a defensive war like this, assassins could barely contribute. Even with good equipment, the most they could do was hide behind knights and swordsmen, sneaking in a bit of damage where possible.

Other guilds had clearly noticed the incoming monsters too. On any other day, they’d already be fighting over the spoils.

Level 22 and Level 25 Epic monsters! These weren’t anything like those Rare ones from before. Every single piece of Epic gear above Level 20 could bring massive improvements, and at this stage of the game, even money couldn’t buy a full Epic set.

However… that number, even at a glance, was easily over ten thousand!

And at a time like this, anyone who died couldn’t rejoin the fight. They’d have to wait until the entire battle ended before logging back in. Dying early was enough to make anyone want to smash their headgear.

Even the soldiers stationed on the city walls, veterans who’d long fought these monsters, couldn’t help but tremble. The number of siege beasts was so vast that their end couldn’t even be seen!

“Stay calm!” Aegis ordered sternly. “Judging from their formation, they’ve been preparing for this. What the Lord of Flowerdance City did wasn’t meaningless, he exposed the enemy’s scheme ahead of time! As long as we endure this wave, we’ll see the light of dawn!”

Though the troops remained silent, their breathing gradually steadied. Elna watched nervously from the top of the wall. She had insisted on coming along, if she couldn’t help in battle, then what was the point of her skills?

Aegis could only sigh in frustration. He had no time to argue with his sister and was forced to let her follow.

Thanks to the adventurers’ frontlines, the city walls wouldn’t be struck first. While other walls around the city would also face attacks, the main force was concentrated at the northern gate.

At some unknown point, the signal horn sounded. The black tide closed in on the human barricade of adventurers. The front line was almost entirely composed of knights, with a few high-defense swordsmen mixed in. Other classes couldn’t possibly withstand the first charge.

Most of the players on the battlefield were around Level 18, while the larger guild members were slightly higher. The ghouls might not pose any challenge to Zane, but to ordinary players, they were nightmares.

The enemies leading the charge glowed faintly red all over, they were in Frenzy!

“Lock down the first row!” Icefruit from Nether Dawn shouted.

In such a tightly packed formation, holding the first row in place could trigger a chain reaction throughout the rest. Unfortunately, there weren’t enough players with binding skills, and the moment one enemy fell, the gaps were instantly filled by the monster horde.

…

**Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!**

The relentless barrage of furious strikes crashed into the knights on the front line, tearing away half their health in an instant.

The knights in Nether Dawn’s formation only held out thanks to their high defenses; in comparison, the other camps fared far worse. The small guilds and solo players were immediately scattered upon impact!

Even the Rainflower Guild’s formation was in complete disarray. The ghouls tore through the knights’ line and rampaged through the rear ranks, slaughtering the defenseless.

The level gap was simply overwhelming! One ghoul lunged forward and slammed its claw viciously into Rainflower’s Drake.

A critical hit!

His face turned pale green from fright as he roared, “Backup knights, get your a̲s̲s̲e̲s̲ up here! I didn’t feed you all this time to just stand there watching!!”

At his shout, the knights who hadn’t yet joined the line scrambled forward. Many of them were first-timers in a war like this, their reactions a beat too slow.

Once the breach was sealed, the ghouls’ damage output dropped sharply. These monsters hit the hardest during their initial Frenzy, but after that, their attack speed slowed considerably.

Even so, the casualties from that wave were devastating. At least twenty percent of the defending players were wiped out. Thankfully, the top-tier fighters held their ground, wherever there was a Level 20 mage, the defense line was stabilized. Early-stage AoE spells weren’t to be underestimated.

Ten minutes later, the final ghoul fell under a barrage of firepower.

The monsters didn’t attack all at once. Instead, when the ghouls were wiped out, the next wave began to stir.
Players used that brief respite to clean the battlefield ahead. Dozens of Epic-grade items had dropped. By the end of the day, Epic gear would surely lose much of its value.

Before long, the next wave arrived. Level 25 Epic monsters, Skeleton Warriors. Each had a massive 5,000 HP pool and were proficient with the Parry skills. Their Heavy Slash and Triple Strike could instantly kill any fragile class.

Apart from magic, most physical attacks barely scratched them. When two Skeleton Warriors unleashed Heavy Slash at once, even a high-level knight was left hanging by a thread, Triple Strike would outright finish them.

This time, the mid- and small-sized guilds completely collapsed. The areas occupied by solo players were utterly overrun!

There was nothing they could do. The Rainflower formation was overrun by rampaging Skeleton Knights whose rusted blades reflected terrified faces—faces that might soon join the ranks of the dead. FleetingDream struggled to support the collapsing lines, but the moment a frontline ally fell, the enemies poured through. He could only fight while retreating, exhausted and cornered.

Not just them, even Nether Dawn’s formation was on the brink of collapse! The front-line knights were being focus-fired by Skeleton Warriors and slain one after another. Their attack speed wasn’t fast, but their damage and level far surpassed those of the ghouls!

“General, the adventurers won’t last much longer!” a soldier reported anxiously.
“I know! Not yet.” Aegis’ voice hardened.
“Alright…”
“Where’s the Mentor?” Aegis suddenly asked, remembering something.
“She said… she needed to make preparations.”
“Preparations? At a time like this? I really don’t understand what she’s thinking!”

As Aegis spoke, a blazing meteor wrapped in blue flames streaked across the sky, crashing into the ground just ahead of the player formation.

The moment the flames touched the earth, a terrifying shockwave erupted, fused with heat and force, blasting outward in all directions!

**BOOM!!!**

…

A flood of five-digit damage numbers burst across the screen. That single strike obliterated at least two hundred Skeleton Warriors! The impact left a massive crater, and the azure flames still burned fiercely. Any Skeleton that dared approach the center was instantly reduced to ash.

When the dust finally settled, Sheen stretched lazily, raising her arms with a bored yawn.

“Heh~” She let out a half-asleep sigh, as if she’d just woken from a nap. “So weak. The Shadow Overlord actually thought he could take a city with this kind of trash?”

The players stared in disbelief. The Mentor, an NPC they all knew too well, the one who had “guided” (and often scammed) nearly everyone, was actually this powerful?

The chaos on the battlefield began to subside. With an NPC that strong on their side, how could they possibly lose?