The sky had just turned dim when dark clouds swiftly thickened, pressing down until the air felt heavy and dense.
A low, rumbling roar came from the direction of the dungeon, as if some colossal beast deep underground was stirring awake.
In the forest, there were no NPCs in sight.
Instead, a defensive line formed entirely of Players stood ready.
Their numbers reached a full three thousand, with levels ranging from 25 to 40.
The front ranks were all heavy-armor classes, clad in their highest defense gear.
The middle ranks were healers, while the rear consisted of ranged classes.
The mission was simple, requiring no complex tactics.
Just hold the line and buy as much time as possible!
…
The ground trembled faintly, trees rustled, and a chilling wind blew from the dungeon entrance.
The roars and shrieks of monsters grew increasingly chaotic, savage, and piercing…
“They’re coming!”
A Player at the very front shouted loudly, his body suddenly erupting with a brilliant enhancement glow.
Instantly, blades were drawn, bowstrings pulled taut, staffs shimmered with light, and spears were firmly braced against shield gaps.
Every face was filled with fighting spirit and excitement.
“Conserve your mana! Focus on stalling!”
The commander in charge yelled through the party voice channel.
Before his words faded, the first wave of monsters surged out from the dungeon entrance.
[Siege Lizards], with their massive heads, charged with earth-shaking, heavy steps, roaring as they barreled towards the shield wall a hundred meters away.
“Something’s off!”
Right from the start, the Players sensed something abnormal.
Why would siege-type monsters appear right at the beginning?
“Front line, be careful! Their target is you!”
Someone quickly warned.
Sure enough, after a batch of Siege Lizards charged out, [Undead Archers] followed closely behind.
Then!
Figures of [Undead Priests] and [Undead Mages] appeared one after another, mixed within the monster horde, their formation eerie yet orderly.
“Be careful, everyone! There’s a BOSS in this dungeon! It’s commanding them!”
The commander, standing on the command tower with a full view of the battlefield, urgently alerted them.
“A boss? This dungeon spawned a boss?”
“Wait, where are my starter trio? The wolves? The boars? The slimes? (Goblins were kicked out of the starter trio centuries ago)”
“Looks like we’re in for a tough fight!”
“No wonder it’s an Epic quest. A boss actually appeared during a Mana Tide.”
“All you meat shields who got those special potions! Don’t you dare hold back!”
“Yeah, you really can’t skimp on this one, brothers…”
The voice channel instantly erupted into a frenzy.
Players chattered excitedly, their emotions whipped up once again.
It was simple.
A single dungeon boss meant at least ten treasure chests, plus the materials from the boss itself.
Mmm-hmm.
Once the auction opened, they’d surely get a decent share of the profits.
Moreover, participating in the subjugation of a dungeon boss would earn them enough points to exchange for at least one piece of Green-quality, set equipment!
“Heavy armor, defend! Healers, get ready to heal!”
“Archers, take your positions! Mages, positions!”
Amidst the clamor, the Siege Lizards crashed into the shield wall like a tide.
Their huge heads knocked aside spears and slammed hard against the shields of the heavy-armor Players, producing deafening booms.
The shield-bearing Players in the front gritted their teeth, their feet sinking deep into the mud.
Ripples spread across the surface of their shields as they barely withstood this initial impact.
“Damn! Why are these things so strong?! Hold! Don’t let them break through!”
A tank Player roared, his massive shield holding firm even as his body was nearly knocked backward.
Looking across the line, the once-solid shield wall showed signs of being pushed back!
“Heal them up!”
The healers in the middle ranks reacted swiftly.
With waves of their staffs, streams of healing light showered down, replenishing the front line’s health.
“Covering fire! Release!”
The archers and mages in the rear weren’t idle either.
Arrows fell like rain, followed closely by magical missiles, pouring down onto the crashing ‘black tide’.
Thud thud thud, boom boom boom!
The sounds were incessant.
The front ranks of monsters were instantly decimated.
But before the second volley could be unleashed, the monsters retaliated in kind.
“Formation! Defend!”
The commander shouted.
Various magical barriers sprang up, merging into one enormous shield.
Boom boom boom, clang clang clang!
Sounds rang out incessantly overhead.
In the end, the barrier couldn’t withstand the pressure and shattered.
Hundreds of Players were sent back to the respawn point in the town.
“Dammit! How did so many die at once?!”
Someone cursed.
“Holy crap! They have support buffs!”
Finally, sharp-eyed Players noticed that among the monsters in the rear ranks, several [Abyss Priests] were hiding, continuously applying buffs to the monsters along the way.
“This Mana Tide is abnormal! Quickly request reinforcements from all the Guilds! Send more people over; we’re preparing for a siege defense!”
The commander immediately judged, his tone unprecedentedly grave.
Just then, the second round of attacks was ready.
Accompanied by a shout of “Fire!”, another volley was hurled towards the monster tide.
♢♦♢♦♢
After several consecutive exchanges, monster corpses already littered the battlefield.
Resurrected Players gradually returned, and the Players’ defensive line showed a faint tendency to push back.
“We can hold! Keep it up, brothers!”
“Whew! It’s been a long time since I’ve fought in such an exciting raid.”
“They’re just monsters in their twenties and thirties. Clever, maybe, but we can still overpower them with levels.”
In the team voice channel, the Players were already halfway to popping the champagne.
“Commander, should we still call for more people?”
Someone asked with a chuckle.
“Well, of course…”
Someone else started to say it wasn’t necessary, but then noticed something abnormal at the dungeon entrance.
“Attention! The second wave is coming!”
“Hmph! No matter how many of these lowlifes come, they won’t get past our line!”
“Hahaha… Holy shit!”
The wild laughter cut off abruptly.
They saw the dungeon entrance suddenly expand to twice its previous size!
Siege Lizards larger than before, [Undead Snipers] superior to the archers, and a large group of Undead Priests and [Corrupted Werewolves] came surging out!
All of them were level thirty or above!
“What the actual f–?!”
The commander’s eyes bulged as he screamed in terror.
“Don’t panic! Hold the line!”
“Attack! Attack! Archers, mages, don’t just stand there!”
“The enemy is attacking too, be careful!”
In the frantic scramble, both sides almost simultaneously unleashed their firepower.
A dense mass of arrows and multicolored magic clashed violently with the mana-infused arrows shot by the Undead Snipers.
The various flashes of light were almost blinding.
The piercing screech of friction, the sounds of collision, and explosions pounded painfully against eardrums.
Unfortunately, this world didn’t have [Earplugs Level 5].
Shockwaves struck the ground, churning up earth.
Magic and arrows, scattered from the collision, fell like a torrential downpour.
Monsters fell in swathes, and Players also suffered heavy casualties.
“Lower-level players, fall back! Protect the healers!”
The commander squinted, urgently directing.
He saw those Corrupted Werewolves, with crimson eyes and rotting pelts, leap over the shield wall, heading straight for the healer classes in the middle ranks.
Their speed was terrifyingly fast.
Frontline Players quickly adjusted formation.
Some fell back into the crowd to activate taunt skills.
However, this instantly created small gaps in the shield wall.
Thud thud thud!
The Siege Lizards slammed hard into the shield wall.
Some heavy-armor Players with low health instantly had their defenses crushed.
Breaches appeared in the line, and a large number of monsters poured through into the backlines.
But that wasn’t the end.
Black smoke billowed from the bodies of the Undead Priests, while the Abyss Priests summoned gale-force magic, blowing the black smoke towards the defensive line.
Players who came into contact with the black smoke immediately felt their mana grow sluggish and their vision blur!
Many couldn’t muster defensive magic in time before being taken out by the Undead Snipers’ second wave of attacks.
“Purification! Quick, Purification!”
The commander’s voice grew hoarse with urgency.
The defensive line suddenly seemed on the verge of collapse.
“Damn it! What about your special potions?! Drink them!”
A sweaty Priest Player cursed angrily.
Only then did the frontline Players suddenly remember the potions Adrian had distributed to them.
They hurriedly gulped them down!
Instantly, the front line’s health was restored to full.
Not only that, although the potions didn’t specify they could cleanse negative statuses, the black smoke could no longer apply any debuffs to them!
The frontline defense finally stabilized once more.
“Damn it! Kill these stinking werewolves first!”
“Let’s get ’em!”
“Don’t stop the Purification spells!”
“Archers, prioritize the werewolves! Mages, deal with those snipers quickly!”
The party voice channel was a complete mess, impossible to tell who was giving orders…
♢♦♢♦♢
Finally!
Through the Players’ relentless efforts, another wave of monsters was arduously repelled.
However, their mana and stamina were almost completely depleted.
The durability of the frontline tanks’ equipment had also dropped severely.
From the start of the Mana Tide until now, they had held out for several hours.
Their respawn cooldowns were getting longer and longer.
The next wave…
They absolutely could not hold.
“Commander, I think… we can go all out now…”
A heavy-armor Player put away his shield and drew a greatsword.
“I think so too.”
A Priest swapped out his staff, which increased healing, for a short staff that boosted attack power.
“Then… free-for-all!”
The commander glanced at the team list, half of the names grayed out, waved his hand, and issued the final order.
As soon as the words were spoken, the ground shook violently.
The dungeon entrance expanded once again.
The third wave of monsters came rolling out, their numbers several times that of the previous two waves, but their quality was noticeably lower.
“So soon?!”
“I don’t see a boss?”
“Something’s wrong. No boss even in the third wave.”
“When are the reinforcements coming?”
“At least half an hour…”
“Why is the strength of these monsters not even as high as the first wave?”
“Why are there even some in their teens?”
“Isn’t this the normal quality? What was that before?”
“This boss is smart. We can’t hold them off now…”
“Brothers! Kill!”
A battle cry suddenly rang out.
They saw the commander raise his longsword high and charge out first.
On a high rock outside the battle lines, hidden within a [Perception Block], four individuals watched with great interest.
The third wave of monsters and the Players collided violently, and…
That heroic commander didn’t last seven seconds before falling tragically…
Against the endlessly surging tide of monsters, the remaining thousand or so wounded Players were completely overwhelmed in less than two minutes.
From the direction of the town, magical light flared.
A deep blue barrier enveloped the town, preparing to withstand the terrifying impact.
…
The vast, dark monster tide moved like a giant plow, flattening the forest, churning up soil, and charging towards the town a few miles away.
After nearly ten thousand monsters had poured out, the flow from the dungeon entrance suddenly stopped. No more monsters emerged.
“Let’s go!”
Lucoco’s eyes sharpened.
Without any incantation or movement, she cast [Light Body Technique] on the four of them.
The four quickly entered the dungeon.
Fire Branch’s gaze remained fixed on Lucoco, full of curiosity, until Lucoco looked back. Only then did she casually look away.
They ran for several hundred meters.
The dungeon was eerily empty, as if all the monsters had gone out.
But this was an illusion.
It wouldn’t be long before a horde of monsters charged up from the lower levels.
“The passage to the third floor is this way.”
Fire Branch pointed at a fork in the path.
The four swiftly turned and soon arrived at a pitch-black passageway.
Earlier, to increase speed, Iron Shield had stripped down to her basic gear.
Now, she peeked into the tunnel entrance and looked at Lucoco.
“There are definitely worms inside. I’ll take the front. Be a dear and heal me well, okay?”
After saying this, she clicked her equipment button, and that set of thick heavy armor was instantly equipped!
She didn’t take out her greataxe, instead switching to a one-handed axe more suitable for narrow spaces.
“So convenient.”
Are sighed enviously, then smiled and gently touched her bracelet.
A black greatsword with a chainsaw was now steadily held in her hand.
“Miss Are, you!”
Fire Branch’s eyes widened, staring fixedly at the over-a-meter-long black chainsaw greatsword!
“You’re a Warrior?”
“Ah~ me? I’m just a Priest, hehehe…”
Are still smiled gently.
Effortlessly, she lifted the greatsword with one hand!
She tenderly pressed the mechanism on the hilt, slotted in a [Magic Crystal], and gave it a gentle twist!
The chainsaw roared to life, spinning furiously!
Are supported her cheek with one hand, looking utterly enchanted and intoxicated…
This was the precious gift Lucoco had given her, the [Black Crystal Chainsaw Sword].
She loved it so much!
Even though it was her first time using it.
Gulp.
Fire Branch and Iron Shield swallowed simultaneously.
They felt that this seemingly gentle and amiable big sister was also a rather…
Morbid NPC.
In the blink of an eye, they saw Lucoco tilting her head, her grin almost reaching her ears as she stared at the chainsaw sword, letting out a strange, eerie chuckle.
Fire Branch and Iron Shield exchanged a look.
They now shared the same thought: These two…
Are definitely not normal!
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