Game of the World Tree

Could it be… they’ve come and chased after them to rescue their fellow brethren?

In the first place, how did they even knew of their group’s current whereabouts anyway?

How many of them are there? Is the Black Dragon also with them?

In a matter of seconds, countless thoughts raced through Crocodile’s mind as he broke out in a cold sweat while looking at the approaching individuals who were mounted atop a nightmarish, eight-legged monstrosity.

These individuals were of course, none other than the players, specifically the Crypt Spider Cavalry, who were the quickest squadron to pursue the mercenaries.

This squad consisted of approximately two hundred members.

Li Mu established these rapid-response special action squad and placed it under the leadership of Tomato, who excelled in small-scale team operations.

Within these squad, a force of approximately forty archers, sixty mages, twenty druids, and a formidable contingent of over ninety melee hunters and warriors stood ready alongside their spider familiars.

The archers, mages, and druids in this group all possess long-range attack capabilities. On the other hand, the melee hunters and warriors have been equipped with steam guns instead, the very same ones that Moe Moe Committee modified from the alchemical guns they purchased off from the dwarves from before…

In particular, these steam gun was known for its difficulty in use, as most archers’ skills are tailored for bows and not applicable to these weapons. So, in the end, only non-ranged melee players decided to use these guns.

Under Li Mu’s directive, Tomato led the Crypt Spider Cavalry to advance way ahead of the main force and initiate harassment attacks and guerrilla tactics against the mercenaries to prevent them from escaping…

With each member mounted atop their gigantic arachnid familiars, the Spider Cavalry surged forward, resembling a marauding band of bandits descending from the mountains as they closed in on the mercenaries.

And amidst the cavalry’s charge, the archers bearing longbows began hoisting their weapons upwards, while druids and mages commenced their spell incantations.

Simultaneously, the melee players also unveiled their modified steam guns, before aiming them forward in synchronous fashion.

“Hold it—Now, fire!” Tomato shouted.

Boom!

Alongside the ear-splitting explosions, several more mercenaries immediately fell down after being hit by a hail of arrows and an unrelenting barrage of myriad of spells, including fireballs, wind blades, and ice shards.

All these long-ranged attacks rained down upon the enemy ranks like hellfire, leaving chaos in their wake.

Screams echoed all around, as over a dozen mercenaries were suddenly submerged in a rain of arrows and magic.

And in less than a minute, after the players initiated their surprise attack, nearly fifty mercenaries around the camp had already lost their lives!

This sudden ambush had completely blindsided the mercenaries, plunging their camp’s outer perimeter into absolute chaos.

After witnessing the mercenaries fall into disarray and the impressive results of their initial attack, the players’ morale surged even further.

“Haha! These low-level mobs sure are pathetic!”

“Ten thousand experience points! I just took down a mercenary and gained over 10K EXP in an instant!”

“Wow, these guys are a gold mine!”

The players specializing in long-ranged combat grew more exhilarated, as their eyes locked onto the mercenaries with a glint of avarice upon their gaze.

However, the melee players who used the steam guns felt somewhat frustrated.

“What a shame…I’m a melee specialist, so my skills can’t be attached to these steam guns. Looks lile, I won’t gain any EXP even if I kill anyone using this…”

The passive skill War Sacrifice would only activate if players managed to kill an enemy while using skills and equipment mandated by the system.

Henceforth, relying solely on any external tools such as these guns wouldn’t trigger this effect.

“Don’t panic! There will be a chance for you to engage in close combat shortly. For now, just listen to my commands first and keep charging!”

Tomato reassured the melee players while leading the cavalry squad to charge at the mercenaries camp once more…

The players’ initial assault had inflicted heavy casualties on Crocodile’s subordinates. Fifty mercenaries had easily died on their attack, which constituted one-fifth of their overall numbers…

However, the resounding gunshots snapped Crocodile back to reality.

He breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing more than two hundred elves charging out with no additional reinforcements.

It’s just a mere two hundred elves riding on some strange looking spiders! Their side still have the numerical advantage!

Crocodile coldly snorted and shouted,

“Hold your ground! Don’t panic! There aren’t many of them!”

“Their group only consists of elven archers and mages! It also looks like they’re using dwarven steam guns!”

“Raise your shields and spears! Form a shield wall around the camp! Mages, quickly cast enhancement spells on the shield wall! Guards, move to the camp’s perimeter! Don’t let any of those spiders get in!”

Following their leader’s orders, the rest of the mercenaries quickly regained their composure. They swiftly followed Crocodile’s lead, raising their shields to form a shield wall and thrusting their long spears to deter any approaching spiders.

In addition, several human mages also chanted spells to enhance the shield wall with added magical protection.

Not long after, the charging players launched their attacks once more.

The melee-oriented players pulled the triggers on their steam guns once more, as another round of thunderous shots echoed within the vicinity…

However, this time, the mercenaries were already prepared.

The steel bullets from the steam guns landed in an instant, but the mercenaries’ shield wall only trembled slightly, with the magical shields only flickering for a second…

To the players’ surprise, this time, the bullets didn’t even penetrate the magical shields at all; instead, they only left small dent before the metal pellets fell into the ground…

This outcome was somewhat expected since in Saigües, spells such as magical shields were the most effective defense against kinetic weapons without being augmented by any skill.

Therefore, with the magical shields in place, the players’ steam guns lost their penetrating power.

Watching their attacks become ineffective, the melee players couldn’t help but grumble,

“Darn it! Even though these guns have been modified, their attack power is still pathetic!”

“No wonder these steam guns are phased out by the dwarves… they’re totally useless against magic!”

“…Should we charge in instead?”

“Don’t charge in yet! Let the archers handle the aggro! We’ve got mages and druids too!”

Tomato roared angrily and issued a new instructions.

Hearing the squad leader’s command, the archers raised their bows once more and, with the assistance of their skills, loosed another volley of magic-infused arrows that arched into the air.

At the same time, the mage and druid players also began chanting incantations once again.

Arrows imbued with magic shot forth once more, but they only pierced the magical shields slightly due to the skill’s augmentation and became stuck in the shield, unable to penetrate deeper.

However, the subsequent magical spells did inflict some damage on the mercenaries.

But with the added protection of magic strengthening their shields, this attack only managed to lightly injure a handful of mercenaries.

As a result of losing their element of surprise, the players’ attacks were immediately thwarted as the mercenaries began countering strategically.

Seeing the players’ assault falter, Crocodile’s eyes lit up with glee.

“Our shield wall is effective! Mages, keep that buff up! Their attack power don’t pack a powerful punch at all, and their numbers are manageable. Surround and capture them!”

With this command, the motivated mercenaries quickly raised their shields and advanced toward the players.

Seeing the mercenaries trying to encircle them, Tomato shouted in elvish,

“Halt the charge! Disperse! Switch to guerrilla tactics instead! Left and right flanks, focus on harassment! Buy us some time!”

After issuing the command, the players instantly changed their course of action.

They no longer charged towards the mercenaries but instead maneuvered around the shield wall. Occasionally, they also fired arrows or threw fireballs towards the camp.

This time around, they aimed not to kill but to disrupt the enemy instead.

With this change in tactics, even though the players couldn’t inflict much damage on the mercenaries, they still managed to disrupt the mercenaries and restricted their actions.

The Spider Cavalry transformed into some sort of guerrilla archers, as they encircled the mercenary camp and fired an arrow or two before immediately retreating out of range.

Occasionally, some elven mages would also throw fireballs into the camp whenever such an opportunity arose, which caused even more commotion.

Watching several carts chock-full of goods being ignited by those stray fireballs, Crocodile’s eyes turned bloodshot with fury.

“You goddamed long-eared assholes!”

Those goods were all treasures he had worked so painstakingly hard to buy from the Kingdom of Aries!

He still needed to resell those back to the empire!

“Put out the fires quickly! Maintain formation! Guards, follow me! Let’s capture those pesky elves!”

He ordered in a commanding tone laced with anger.

Under Crocodile’s command, the mercenaries quickly rushed to extinguish the fires, while his men that’s on the camp’s outer perimeter held their shield formation.

Not a moment later, several dozen peak Iron-ranked mercenaries followed Crocodile himself as they leave their camp and charged directly at the elves in hot pursuit.

However, after helplessly chasing after the elves for a couple of minutes, Crocodile realized that he had underestimated the spiders’ speed.

After forming contracts with players, these adult crypt Spiders had seemingly become even faster. Additionally, mage and druid players could also cast a continuous buff called “Lightfoot” upon everyone in the squad, making it almost impossible for the mercenaries to catch up.

Only Crocodile whose strength has reached the intermediate silver-rank can keep up with the speed of the Spider Cavalry Squad.

However, each time he managed to reached them, the two hundred players on the squad would immediately concentrate all their attacks on him before swiftly retreating. Their combined attacks couldn’t harm him at all, but their sheer volume alone was enough to momentarily limit his movement.

“Why are these elves so cunning!?”

Crocodile’s face turned grim.

Nonetheless, even though the mercenaries couldn’t catch the Cavalry Squad, the elves too also couldn’t breach the mercenary camp’s shield wall, thus leaving the situation in a stalemate…

But even in this situation, the elves still didn’t give up their harassment tactics; they continued to encircle the mercenary camp and causing chaos whenever they could see an opportunity.

Seeing their behavior, the mercenary leader knitted his brows.

Their actions suggests that they seemed to be in no hurry to rescue the captives…

And upon noticing this fact, Crocodile’s expression finally changed.

He suddenly realized a problem…

“These elves… aren’t here to rescue their brethren but to stall for time instead!”

“Goddammit! They are probably waiting for reinforcements! Most likely, they are waiting for that Black Dragon!”

In an instant, Crocodile’s face turned pale.

He clenched his teeth hard and shouted,

“Don’t engage with them anymore! Maintain formation, and let’s get out of here fast!”

However, as soon as he issued the command, as if on cue, faint shouts came from afar, right in the direction of the southern trade route…

Crocodile’s heart skipped a beat, and he instinctively looked in that direction.

Accompanied by billowing dust, fully armed elves emerged on the horizon, with their formation tight and imposing as they slowly came into view for the mercenaries just as the sun arises.

Based on rough estimates, their numbers easily exceeded a thousand!

“S-So many elves?!”

Seeing such staggering number, Crocodile’s eyes widened in absolute shock.

But that wasn’t the end…

Just when the members of the mercenary guild were awestruck by the sudden appearance of the elven army, a loud draconic roar resounded from the sky.

The thing that Crocodile had feared the most had actually happened!

A fierce black dragon, flapping its massive wings, ominously appeared in every mercenaries’ line of sight…

“Ruaahhh! Wicked humans! You’ve captured the kin of this lord! You must pay a heavy price for this!”

In an instant after he heard the dragon’s excited voice echoing through the air, Crocodile’s mood plummeted to rock bottom…

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