Second World

Jack didn't pause for long from the surprise of seeing Badu's head in the air. He didn't even bother with the loots dropped by Badu. His beast form was nearing its end. That's why he was in a hurry to finish Badu off before he fled. A spell formation started forming when he executed the Brave Slash that beheaded Badu.

Abasi roared in fury and swung his axe wildly. Jack tried his best to dodge while continuing casting.

It wasn't long before Jack lost his dragon form. He transformed back into a human. Luckily, his spell formation was completed then. He disappeared from the spot and reappeared back with the human army.

'Teleportation again!' Abasi thought furiously. In his anger, Abasi barged in, mowing several human soldiers in his wake. Jack didn't evade the warlord anymore, he clashed directly with Abasi supported by the human soldiers. With support, Abasi was now the one having trouble.

In the end, Abasi didn't let his fury blind him. He used Berserker's Punishing Cyclone but the version that summoned a hurricane like the one displayed by the late Samuel.

The hurricane damaged and threw everyone away, but Abasi didn't use this skill to force himself forward. Instead, he retreated to the orc soldiers on the front line. Jack and Abasi then clashed again, both with the support of their respective soldiers.

*

The battle continued for some time. Everyone fought fiercely.

The fight between Domon and Murong didn't last for long. Not because the winner had been decided, but because the nearby native soldiers came and assisted Domon.

Even though Domon very much wanted to have a duel with his old acquaintance, he couldn't exactly scold the soldiers who came to aid him. This was a war, after all. Hence, Murong was forced to retreat from behind the enemy's line, lest she got surrounded. She then coordinated with Four Winds and the rest while Domon joined Leavemealone and the others to resist them.

Jack and Abasi also couldn't take out one another's life. Both were supported by their soldiers and healers. The fight continued with a stalemate.

Despite the human army's solid formation and coordination, they were still outnumbered and besieged from all sides. With the orc's superior number, they could utilize the tactic of pulling out their force when wounded, letting them rest, and healing them with recovery potions. The human army had no such luxury. They were forced to use all their numbers to defend. No one had the time to pull back and rest.

In this situation, the human army shouldn't have been able to last long against the orc army. Yet, they did. The reason was because of Nilrem's widely destructive spells and her Knights of the Rounds. But even so, out of the eleven court knights, four had fallen. Arthur, the court king, was still battling Umeza supported by Lancelot and Bedivere.

Luckily, the knights of the round were like other normal summons. It didn't matter if they died. The next time Nilrem cast the spell again, all twelve would come out of the summoning gates, as if nothing ever happened. They also didn't have a duration. These knights would remain in the fight until they died or when the battle was over.

Unfortunately, the cooldown of the Knights of the Round spell only started after all twelve knights died or when the spell was canceled. Additionally, the cooldown for this mega spell was one week. So, Nilrem couldn't recast the spell in this battle to call back the four fallen knights.

Many players and the native officers in the human armies had also fallen. As time passed, the scale of advantage slowly tipped to the orc army.

"Damn it! If I know we are fighting this long, I would have used my divine skills at the start of the battle," Jack complained to John. It had been more than six hours since the battle started. His Lightning God Barrage would be off cooldown by now if he used it at the start. If he had used it during his fight with Abasi and the others, he would have been able to kill Badu and Hubesi at first contact.

"To be honest, I never expected us to last this long," John replied.

Jack felt like barging into the supply depot and scolding the shit out of him. Did he fight with the thought of losing?

As if reading Jack's mind, John said, "Hey, I have said from the start that we have a very slim chance. Our task is to buy the main armies with as much time as possible. That's why I've given you that task. It seemed like it is going to be soon. Go get ready! And stay away from this supply depot!"

Jack looked around, he saw their armored cavalries and the other fast-movement units started gathering. He disengaged from Abasi and moved away. Abasi called him a coward and yelled for him to return. He ignored the warlord. He resummoned the Ice Demon Fiend instead to entertain Abasi. His Amulet of Summoning was already off cooldown.

He used his mental connection with Arlcard and Therras to call them to join him. He also sent messages and called most of the guild's core members over as well.

He went over to Commander Quintus and told him that the final plan was about to start. The native leaders had been briefed by John before the battle started. They would react accordingly.

The battle continued to rage. The side where the other six guilds were defending was the first to start crumbling. They had been suffering significant casualties. They even wondered if the rewards would ever be enough to help cover these losses. But it was too late to quit now, they could only continue to fight.

The orcs knew the supply depot was where the enemy guild leaders and their command platforms were located. It was also their target. They were fighting in the hope that the humans weren't despicable enough to destroy this supply depot once the humans realized they couldn't win. If that happened, they would only be able to deliver equipment and materials, while the military rations would have been too deteriorated by the time it was delivered to the main armies.

Hence, all the orc soldiers had been doing their best to penetrate the human army's formation to get to the supply depot. As more soldiers arrived where Umeza was fighting Arthur and the others, the balance shifted.

Umeza's beast form had also gone off cooldown after fighting for so long. He again transformed into the bull form once the skill was available. With the support of his soldiers, the three knights of the round were overwhelmed. Bedivere was the first to fall. Lancelot continued to fight ferociously but due to being outnumbered, he fell.

Losing his two knights, Arthur retreated to just before the entrance of the supply depot where most other guild soldiers with the highest defense stat, such as knights, were located. The remaining Ice Cannon Tanks and Brave Golems also lined up there to form a last wall of defense. There were only ten out of the twenty-five tanks and two out of the five brave golems remaining.

Almost all the orc armies from the four sides charged in as if flood poured in from broken dams.

When Umeza charged forward, he realized something. Where was that green-dressed mythical-grade sorceress?

*

"Has everyone gathered? You need to move now! You won't have much time!" John sent Jack a message. He had seen the troops gathering on the eastern side, but some green dots were still heading there.

"All right, make the move!" Jack replied. He understood they won't have time to wait for everyone.

John sent the command to Nilrem, who was now floating above where Jack was. She cast her Horse of the Sea spell, which summoned a great wave with a horde of kelpies running on it. The wave slammed into the orc army in front of Jack's gathered forces. The wave washed away the orc army. All of a sudden, it was an empty field before Jack.

Jack gave the command then, "Everyone, forwarrddd...!!!"

The orc armies who were still fighting their way to the supply depot heard the commotion and looked over. They had been focusing to get as close to the supply depot as possible, so they didn't notice a portion of the enemy troops gathering somewhere else.

Riding Pandora, with Therras running and Arlcard flying beside him, Jack led the armored cavalries as well as the other guilds' cavalries and punched through the enemy's encirclement. Squires, bandit archers, twilight champions, and blood counts followed behind, with eagle rider hunters flying above. The other guilds' fast-movement units also followed.

*

'Are they fleeing?' Umeza wondered when he saw those human troops barging away from the battlefield. Then he saw the direction they were heading and a realization dawned on him.

"They are after our supply carts!" Umeza exclaimed.

He realized then that they had been duped. The humans had made a façade of fiercely defending the supply depot, drawing all their forces to the supply depot in a long battle. With each passing minute, the belief that they were the attackers and the enemies were the defenders was continuously being affirmed. Their attention was so fixed on the supply depot that they didn't realize that one part of their encirclement was getting thinner. This part was where the enemy had barged through and was now heading toward the supply carts that were waiting back there.