Second World

The next morning, the reinforcement army continued their journey. As they had estimated, before noon, Fort Garadhor came into view. With it, they saw the army encircling the fortress. The area around that place was mostly flatlands. Only a few parts in the West had hilly terrain, a forest a distance away in the east, and a river far north.

The reinforcement army came from the South. When they approached. They noticed Therribus' army was already assembled and waiting for them.

They had expected this. The scouts from both sides had checked the situations beforehand, so this encounter was no secret to the two armies.

Therribus had reorganized the army so that the bulk of his force gathered at the Southside, where the reinforcement army was coming from. During the siege all these days, he had lost less than 20,000 soldiers. The only high casualties he had suffered was the siege on the first day.

He still had a bit more than 100,000 soldiers at the ready and 20,000 outworlders which he just put to the side all this time. White Death had been having quite a headache trying to calm the players down because since there was no action, there were no war contribution points as well. They had been wasting their time doing nothing here.

With the appearance of the reinforcement army, White Death had requested Prince Therribus to allow them to join. Therribus had granted his wish. The gathered army at Therribus' camp facing the reinforcement army numbered 60.000 native and 20,000 outworlders.

Therribus left the remaining 40,000 soldiers to maintain the encirclement of Fort Garadhor. Because of this, the encirclement army was much thinner than before. Therribus didn't think that would be a problem. If Prince Alonzo came out to break this encirclement just because it had become thinner, all 40,000 soldiers could easily converge onto Prince Alonzo's location.

*

The reinforcement army looked at their opponents with trepidation. Even while keeping a portion maintaining the siege, Therribus' army still outnumbered theirs which consisted of 30,000 natives and 40,000 outworlders. Not to mention, their portion of outworlders was larger, which was weaker than the native force.

While the native soldiers from the reinforcement army were having this bleak thought, a large portion of their army suddenly broke apart and headed West. They looked at the separating army. It was the outworlder force. They turned to the leaders who didn't say anything. Perhaps it was some kind of a strategy? They thought.

Armstrong watched the outworlder force move away.

"They are truly going with their plan," Ahab remarked.

"Let's concentrate on our part," Armstrong said. "I wonder how our opponents will react."

*

Therribus watched the opposite army break into two. He also wondered what his enemy was up to.

"Should we attack Armstrong's force since they have separated?" Garland asked.

"We shouldn't be hasty, they might be aiming to flank us when we go for Armstrong," Arther said.

"Most of their force is outworlders. What can they do? We will crush them no matter what trick they use!" Garland said vehemently.

"Sir! Almost all the force that is breaking away is outworlders!" One of Therribus' officers, who had an eye skill to see distant things, said.

"Is it so?" Arther commented. "Perhaps they tried to distract us. Goading us to pay attention to that larger force while they are actually the weaker one composed of only outworlders."

"Hmph! I say let us just crush Armstrong's army. Even if that outworlder force tries to flank us, they won't be able to do much. Their average level was only at the level of our common soldiers," Garland uttered.

"No. Do not forget our objective," Therribus said. "Armstrong's army are our fellow countrymen as well. If possible, I do not wish to have them suffer too many casualties. They too will serve me after this is all over. It is good that the outworlders had divided themselves. We can destroy them without reservation. We will split into two as well! Garland, you and I will face Armstrong's army with 30,000 soldiers. Arther, while we hold Armstrong down, you take the remaining 30,000 soldiers and 20,000 outworlders and crush that opposing outworlder force. Kill them all if possible!"

"Yes, Your Highness!" Arther uttered.

"One more thing," Therribus added.

"Yes, Your Highness?"

"Send our outworlders force first. Let them kill each other. It will save us the time when we enact the rule of limiting their levels."

"I will carry out your order!"

*

The reinforcement outworlder army that was moving away, watched the opposing army also break into two, with a large portion coming their way.

"F*ck! You are right. They choose us as their primary target," Bowler cursed.

"Of course, I'm right. I'm always right," John said.

"Well, since you are so capable, you have a way for us to survive this, don't you?" Bowler asked.

"As long as everyone carried out my orders, everything will be fine," John answered.

This time, Bowler hoped to God this annoying guy didn't disappoint.

They continued moving West, ignoring the enemy that was moving toward them. When they arrived at the hilly regions John started organizing everyone's placement. With the enemy approaching, they didn't have much time. It's a good thing that they had drilled during their journey. Everyone already understood John's commands, so they were not confused following his directions.

John had received sufficient information regarding the terrains here, all thanks to Dogs of War's reconnaissance. This way, he already knew where to position everyone to get the best advantage of the terrains. His opponents were as he had expected, underestimating them and coming at them, this allowed them to pick where they chose to fight.

John arranged the defending troops in line formations. Most squads in his army had a balanced composition of classes, but he had also organized several squads that were mainly composed of defensive classes. These squads now lined up the front line, with the balance squads supporting them from behind in layers of line formation. Then at the back were squads composed mostly of Elite Marksman and Gunners which had the longest range. They were placed at the top of the hills, giving them the high ground advantage. John had chosen the hilly terrains on the west for this reason.

"Get ready!" John shouted while sending a message to the leaders who then relayed his order below. He also sent a private message to Jack, "You get ready as well!"

The enemy soon arrived. They noticed the ones at the forefront were players. They felt better at that sight. This meant no high-level natives yet.

Arther had given his order for White Death to have his force at the front line. White Death of course understood Arther's intention, but he didn't care. His objective was not glory in this war. He persuaded the others by saying that this was the chance for them to score war contribution points. Since the others had been itching for action for quite some time, they didn't object to this arrangement. White Death also lied that the native force would be close behind them offering support. They were at the front so they had more chance to score war contribution points. Otherwise, the natives would have wiped out everyone before they had the chance.

White Death's army's advance was a far cry from John's organized formation. White Death never truly bothered uniting the different forces under his command. Most of his current force advanced in groups based on their guilds. They were all loosely bunch that rushed to the enemy without any semblance of coordination.

John told everyone to hold.

When the enemy's front line almost hit the defensive line, John gave the order to act. All the Elite Marksmans and Gunners executed their long-range skills. Hails of arrows and bullets rained down on the attackers. The defending front line also activated their defensive skills. Sentinels activated their Protection Field and Shield Stance while Paladins used Divine Armor and Heaven's Shield.

John had arranged Paladins at a fixed interval, hence when they all activated their Heaven's Shield. It was like a row of giant shields lined up before the defender, forming a wall. The attackers crashed into this shield wall, unable to pass through. They then received hails of arrows and bullets from the backline.

In just that first contact, uncountable players from White Death's army perished.

Because their momentum was too fast and fueled by the lack of coordination, they continued to push on. The ones closest to the front line, who watched the players die like flies, were unable to stop since the players from the back kept on pushing them forward. All they could do was activate their defensive skills and try to survive as long as possible. Even the range players were also getting pushed forward by the momentum. They couldn't get into positions to make decent attacks.

White Death who was monitoring the attack from his base platform was shocked to see such a drastic outcome. The level difference between the players in his army and the ones in the enemy's army shouldn't be that big, should it? After the failure of this first wave, he decided he couldn't hold anything back. He looked at the three others beside him who similarly had the base platform, Manager Steelhand, The Real Man, and Regim. The four of them had used their Guild Army Summoning Crystals.

They controlled their guild army to advance together with their players in the second wave.