Both sides clashed in the middle again. The heroes managed to get the upper hand, killing four villains, while their healer and melee damage survived.

They chased the last villain to his tower and killed him there. Under the barrage of arrows from the tower and the villain soldiers, the hero damage dealer stayed calm and focused his attacks on the tower while the healer slowed the rate that his health was falling.

The villain's first tower fell, giving the hero team enough upgrade points to gain two levels.

Before the melee hero died, he killed the last of the villain soldiers.

The second upgrade increased the damage that the arrow towers did. With the third upgrade, Lucan was provided with a choice.

He could upgrade the ammunition the arrow towers used, he could upgrade the strength of the defensive barrier around the core, or he could upgrade the soldiers.

Lucan had already made his decision in advance. The soldiers on his side were now a foot taller as they experienced a 50% increase in health and damage. He just had to wait for the next wave to spawn.

The other two options were nice, but the upgrade of the soldiers was the only way he could upgrade the team's offensive capabilities. Besides, the towers would eventually fall. If he wasn't attacked the cores shield would remain inactive. It was only the soldiers that would be of constant use. They would always be in battle and they would always push forward.

Whether the soldiers were attacking the villains who were trying to take down Lucan's towers or they were attacking an enemy or their tower, they were always in use. On top of that, they were both offensive and defensive.

The only hero alive was the healer. He waited for the soldiers behind him to catch up and waited for them to enter the range of the next tower. With his heals, the soldiers were able to take down the villains second tower to 50% health by themselves before the villain team showed up and killed them off.

The hero healer retreated until three of his team members caught up. They made a push towards the second tower, but the moment they stepped in range, a ball of fire fell from the sky. It healed the villains and damaged the heroes.

The phoenix sorcerer had got involved and cast a spell.

The villains managed to kill the heroes as they tried to flee back towards their own tower.

The five villains were at full health and arrived at the hero's tower when the hero's melee damage dealer arrived. He was greatly outnumbered and the spell on the tower was not ready to be used yet.

Seeing the villains approach he turned to look at the giant Lucan in the distance, hoping for some help.

Lucan was determined not to use any mana unless it was to defend the core. When the lone hero noticed that Lucan wasn't raising his wand, he turned to face the villains. He didn't blame the warlock, saving his magic for when it mattered was important, but he sure would have appreciated some help.

The five villains entered the range of the tower with their soldiers and were about to strike down the melee fighter defending the tower when…

"ROAARRR!!!!!"

A thirty-foot-long shadow drake dove through the air and unleashed a torrent of hellfire, engulfing all five.

*Bang*

A ten-foot-tall imp jumped from the drake's back and landed on the ground. He launched purple fireballs and started swatting at the villain players who only came up to his waist.

Adrestia landed in front of the tower and slashed out with her claw, killing a player.

Lucan had many ways to fight without spending mana. He had some pretty cool pets. They were even cooler since they were jumbo sized like him. Heck, one of his pets, even had a pet of her own.

The melee hero cheered while killing off the last villain. When the new batch of upgraded soldiers arrived, he ran with them to the villain's tower. He had to go on his own since Adrestia and her imp had to stay inside Lucan's area of control.

Lucan smiled towards the sorcerer who was grimacing after seeing the scene.

The moment the hero and the soldiers attacked the second tower, Lucan noticed a change. The tower was now firing arrows covered in phoenix fire. Not only that, but another fireball also fell from the sky and killed the lone hero and soldiers.

The sorcerer on the opposite end made a mocking gesture towards Lucan.

The warlock shrugged and smiled. He was very happy to give up a single player for the mana the sorcerer wasted.

Four heroes respawned with a new wave of soldiers.

The battle continued with both heroes and villains dying over and over. The upgrade points added up.

As Lucan leveled, he continued to make every decision in the soldiers best interest.

The sorcerer was focused on his towers. During the second-choice upgrade, he added a second spell to his towers.

When the heroes had gotten the second villain tower down to 10% health left, the second spell was activated. The tower went up in flames. The fire of rebirth healed the tower and further empowered its arrows. The heroes were forced to retreat.

The villains took control of the battle. They pushed through the heroes first tower with a group of soldiers and killed the imp. Lucan called Adrestia back to him when her health fell to 25%. Unlike him, she didn't have a huge pool of health. She only had her regular amount of health even though she was supersized.

The heroes killed off the villains but met up with their enemy again before they could reach the villain's tower.

After a struggle, the heroes began to fall back. They noticed that their wave of soldiers never arrived, but they were too busy in battle to do anything about it.

They managed to take down three members of the villain team before they died. With a wave of soldiers, the villains made a push towards the hero's second tower.

When the heroes resurrected, they saw why the soldiers never came. They didn't say anything to Lucan, but he could see their grins while they went to go defend their tower.

They managed to push the villains away and save the tower when it was down to 5% health. They made a push towards the villain's tower but were stopped at the door. Their tower's improved firepower was just too much. They managed to kill a few villains before they were defeated.

Their upgrade points were slowly adding up, but without the soldiers help they were falling behind. The villains took down the heroes second tower. They cheered with pride. They felt unstoppable as they charged towards the hero's last tower.

Lucan was given the chance to make his third-choice upgrade. But unlike the last two times, he was able to give the soldiers another attack instead of just increasing their base stats.

From now on, all soldiers that spawned would get a spell they could use once every ten seconds. They would be able to launch a soulfire beam for one second, then immediately follow it up with a soulfire bomb that did 10% of the damage done by the beam. Such a quick soulfire didn't do much damage, but it was triple what a shadow bolt could do, and it would also slow the enemies speed for that second the beam was active.

After his selection, a fresh wave of soldiers was born.

Lucan ordered Adrestia to attack. She was laying across the entire lane back by the core, not allowing the soldiers to pass, their numbers had been slowly growing.

She took to the air and charged with the fifty soldiers, ten of which could use soulfire.

The last hero alive activated the spell in the tower. The phantoms kept the villains from leaving while Adrestia and fifty soldiers destroyed them. A shadow bolt may not cause much damage, but fifty aimed at the same target was impressive. Even better was another fifty that came every second after.

The hero healer that managed to always stay alive charged forward with fifty soldiers surrounding him.

As soon as the group entered the sorcerer's territory, he used another fireball. The healer used a daily ability to create a shield dome, blocking the attack entirely. Another fireball fell. The healer used his magic to heal as fast as he could, only losing three soldiers in the end.

The sorcerer used another two fireballs, but the healer kept their numbers above thirty-five.

The sorcerer could no longer afford to keep attacking while the healer was in the group.

Lucan just smiled to himself. The sorcerer was wasting mana. His large wave of soldiers destroyed another tower. The upgrade points were coming in as the heroes and villains clashed again. The heroes were able to maintain the pressure even when the large group of soldiers died while attacking the villain's last tower.

Each wave of reinforcements made good use of soulfire. When all ten soldiers used it on the same target. That player was guaranteed death as long as a hero was around.

The villains were never able to get back on the offensive. Lucan kept making his soldiers stronger and stronger as the upgrade points came in. When the sorcerer's last tower fell, his previous upgrades became worthless.

The ending was rather uneventful since the villains never made it to Lucan.

The heroes fought against the sorcerer until he ran out of mana. When that happened his hands and feet became covered in flames as he attacked.

Even if the heroes couldn't kill the sorcerer, they kept killing the villains and gained upgrade points.

The continuous upgrade of the soldiers ended with them all being full sized people with three different attacks.

The sorcerer's health eventually ran out and the villain's core was shattered.