Everlast Online

“Finally.” Liz chuckled as she crested a hill and took in the view, “I’m here.”

Much faster than anyone had expected, Liz reached Wolf Fang’s fortress and allowed a ghastly smile to spread across her equally ghastly face.

Her streak had increased significantly on her way, and while killing enemy players did not seem to count towards increasing it, there were enough monsters that it didn’t really matter. 

Now, the end was in sight, better yet Liz was certain she was the first of any players to arrive at an opposing fortress (at least the first to arrive with such a large force).

“... Onwards!” Liz called, pointing her staff towards the fort.

I’ll probably need to replace this soon. Liz thought with a glance while her army charged with bloodthirst.

The necrotic army began its horrific march forwards, Liz even summoned a mostly useless unit to increase the intimidation factor of her army: [Skeleton War Drummers]. Drummers were almost entirely useless when it came to fighting, but that was not their purpose: They existed purely for intimidation. The unit was a simple skeleton, only they carried a drum made of what was clearly human(-oid) skin; the drums were covered in different agonising pains that looked to be mid scream as they died.

Of course they were not entirely useless either. Although she had not yet had a chance to try them out in battle - since they were soldiers that could only really thrive in large numbers - their description in the [Book of Damned Souls] said the beating of their drums could cause the [Fear] debuff in any enemy who heard them

If the sound is anything to go off, it’s probably working. Liz thought, cringing at the horrific sounds coming from them - a sound that was in no way reminiscent of a drum. I probably won’t use them often.

As if to add to the fear-factor, each beat of the drum sounded like a pained scream and came directly from the vibrating lips of each face plastered across the atrocious instrument.

“I’m sure those feeble things are trembling at your might, your majesty.” Demeter laughed with palpable joy; her queen’s power was her happiness.

“Should we not be heading down?” Eren asked while she watched with restrained desire. Eren was a dullahan and so thirsted for battle even though her primary purpose within the army was that of a healer; she felt agitated just watching without action.

“Soon.” Liz responded solemnly. She watched in silence as the players in the fortress scurried around in a panic, just barely reacting to her approach - save on figure.

He stood tall and proud atop the fortress’s walls and even from a distance, his savage grin was obvious.

Wolf. Liz thought, her brows furrowing anxiously. I didn’t expect him to stay behind… But it doesn’t change the plan. Everything is stacked in my favour.

It took less time than Liz expected for her enemies to create a facade of readiness. Liz responded in kind by beginning her siege of Wolf Fang’s fortress in earnest.

Under her command the drummers began to beat their instruments with more brutality, increasing the intensity of their tormented screams. Instantly, Liz saw it take effect on the players as their trembling intensified: Fear.

Next was her order for the defensive units to take the front lines, even pulling back her giant-type soldiers.

To some that would seem foolish, the defensive soldiers simply couldn’t act as cover like giants could - but Liz didn’t need them to act as cover.

[Fear] had clouded her enemies minds and so when they saw her skeletons restructuring themselves they acted without a thought. It started with only one, but soon transformed into a downpour of attacks, almost all directed at those who could most easily deflect or ignore the damage.

Any attacks that weren’t rashly fired at Liz’s frontlines were still blocked by the giants anyway: She had rendered her enemies' opening attack completely futile.

Stronger lights began to flash atop the fortress walls, an indication of stronger magic approaching, but Liz remained calm. She made use of the puppets and wights nearest to the defence to activate one of her criminally underused skills: [Undead Enhance].

Instantly the defence was dyed black, their eyes burned with a hellish red flame and their bodies grew exponentially - nearing the heights of true giants.

Once again all damage was rendered moot.

The first round is mine. Liz grinned, beginning the second phase of her plan.

The giants charged.

Their footsteps were thunderous and heralded calamity. More attacks were loosed in an attempt to stop or even slow the fiendish titans, but Liz knew only the very best could achieve such a thing once they gathered momentum. 

However, it seemed Wolf Fang had the very best stood atop their walls.

Liz felt a ripple of shock wash over her as she watched a lone fighter jump from the fortress wall and gather explosive flames around their fist. Before she could order any kind of defence, the fighter collided with a giant.

The entire army seemed to be pushed back an entire step, but a single giant got the worst of it. Its head had been engulfed in flames, flesh and bone had detonated on impact, toppling the giant without even a fight.

And atop the corpse of Liz’s decimated giant was a single fighter; a single red ogre.

Liz refused to betray her shock with any kind of expression, her felt face remained stony. Around her she could feel the drive of her three greatest generals, each of them desperate to fight.

Liz didn’t speak. She didn’t need to. They only required a subtle nod.

From her side all three of her strongest undead moved.

Demeter crouched and launched herself forward. She moved like a starved hound, bloodthirsty hunger radiating from her eyes that had locked onto the largest prey around.

Gloria ran with her blade in hand, each of her steps thundering with a contradictory quietude. She was not desperate for blood or battle, she only wanted to redeem herself.

Eren activated a skill and beside her, in a wisp of spectral black smoke, an ethereal stead appeared. The fallen saintess rode atop the nightmare towards battle like a harbinger of doom.

They collided at once, but the effect was underwhelming.

Mere seconds before contact Wolf had used a skill of his own. From below the ground itself had wrapped around his fists to form a pair of oversized, stone gauntlets. He had deflected Gloria’s sword strike with the back of his hand - the gauntlet crumbling as he did - and grabbed Demeter by the neck the moment she pounced to throw her between himself and Eren’s magic.

The defence was perfect as though it were choreographed, but paled in comparison to his follow up.

Gloria was the only one in a position to attack and she made use of that. Aura coated her sword as she attempted to slash through his neck.

In response, Wolf ducked under the blade and landed a perfect uppercut to her jaw; one infused with some kind of wind magic that sent her flying into the air. Gloria could do nothing but fall and watch as a writhing, formless mass of dark magic wrapped around his arm.

He cocked his fist back and grinned wildly.

But Gloria was a seasoned warrior and would not simply give in to her own demise; and her resolve paid off.

She barely saved her life by activating [Bone Spike] at the very last moment, using the elongated vertebrae of her tail to fling herself away by digging them into the giant corpse Wolf was fighting on top of.

The trio of women glared at Wolf with greater caution as he laughed and beckoned them to attack once again - elated at the chance to partake in such a fight.

Liz had watched that initial clash, its brutality lasting only a handful of seconds, but knew she could not focus on it any longer.

I have a war to win. She steeled her will and continued giving her orders.

Even if Wolf had stopped a giant, Liz had dozens more in multiple variations. 

They reached the wall.

Only the combined attacks of multiple players could push them back as the giants tore at the bricks that separated them from victory; but even they were just a distraction.

Liz had littered her standard puppets throughout the formation, each having access to her inventory in its entirety.

So, while giants blocked any attacks from getting beyond Wolf Fang’s walls, Liz prepared phase three: Siege Engines.

A line of catapults had been loaded in the centre of Liz’s malignant army, but they were not loaded with rocks. The giants stepped back as the catapults fired, giving Wolf Fang a moment of fraudulent respite; respite that lasted only a moment as corpses began to fall from the sky. 

The first of the corpses hit the wall and splattered like fleshy water balloons, leaving Wolf Fang cautiously underwhelmed. However, soon enough they understood the corpse’s purpose as each body began to bloat with mana and glow with a sickly green light. They detonated into chunks of rotten flesh and blood before Wolf Fang could even think to order a retreat.

Storing corpses was not entirely feasible due to how much inventory space they took up, but when the smoke cleared Liz saw that a single shot from each catapult was more than enough.

The walls had crumbled, leaving only remnants that the giants made quick work of.

There were a few ways to win a siege and the easiest was to simply destroy the opponents' protections.

“The wall is down!” Liz screamed, her drummers beating punctuating her wicked glee, “DESTROY!”

Like a swarm of locusts, the undead charged.

* * *

Crim was overwhelmed mentally and physically.

After she had died she had immediately informed Wolf of everything she knew, but he hardly cared. He had, in fact, only become more excited to fight at her information.

This left Crim - and a handful of other elites - as the only ones able to prepare for Smokey’s eventual attack.

The beginning of it all had been so harrowing. The sounds of screams had ruptured their defences instantly and morale had dropped as their attacks did almost nothing.

For a moment there was hope when Wolf jumped in to defend them, killing one of the monstrous titans instantly, but that hope had been dashed quickly.

Like moths to a flame, three powerful undead descended upon the guildmaster and kept him occupied in a brutal battle that hardly a single player could follow. And with him distracted the giants continued their charge, slowly tearing down the fortress walls; then came the corpse bombs. Like divine punishment, blood and guts rained down from above, bursting into necrotic mana and flesh that quickly destroyed what remained of their slowly dwindling walls.

“The wall is down! DESTROY!” Echoed into the fortress, causing panic to descend into Wolf Fang’s stronghold.

A desperate last defence was established, but their numbers were too great.

Undead poured through the walls like water through a broken dam.

Crim was slowly being overwhelmed as she - and many others like her - blindly fired different spells and attacks into the crowd of charging undead. The giants had not moved, but even still Wolf Fang could not gain any ground against the approaching horde.

“Block the hole!” Crim heard one of the executives yell.

“Push forward!” Another yelled.

But these were merely to encourage the players, there was no clear path for that to occur as of that moment. However, a flicker of hope burst to light within Wolf Fang as the necromancer herself came through the gap.

Her small stature and cloth body were unmistakable.

We have a chance. Crim thought, glancing over to Popeye, another executive, who clearly had the same thought. Popeye vanished into the darkness, completely unnoticed as others did the same. Your arrogance will be your downfall.

Crim’s cruel grin glinted against the molten light as figures instantly appeared around Smokey, various knives at the ready.

Smokey could not even move as each of them pierced her cloth with their knives - aiming across her entire body as they were well-aware that undead like her lacked vital points. They were certain she would be dead, but they were wrong.

“Okay. I’ve drawn you out then.” Smokey nodded, an awful grin spreading across her face, “Getting rid of the assassins will make things easier.”

Around her almost ten skeletons crumbled into ash, but Smokey remained entirely unaffected by what should have been skill-empowered fatal attacks.

The assassin’s could not even react as a group of puppets appeared and pushed them away from Smokey, only they were not like the puppets they were used to.

These were taller and slimmer, their forms strangely reminiscent of figure-skaters, with shining blades instead of forearms.

Just as their figures would suggest, the dolls seemed to dance around Smokey, slaughtering the assassin’s with practised grace. Their speed and flexibility made resistance futile, and so the assassin’s were killed without even a fight.

“I’m guessing there’s some kind of respawn feature.” Smokey muttered, barely audible over the cacophony of war, “So, I’ll need to finish this quickly.”

And then, somehow, the undead became even more ravenous.

Crim was overwhelmed.