Chapter 385

He’d been, partially right about what was in store for the Dragon Dungeon. Because, true to his prediction, the first forces that encountered the armada that was James’s players, did indeed find themselves quickly unalived by the overwhelming amount of cannon fire. Sadly, it wasn’t a massive group of players, so the surprise wasn’t as lethal as James had hoped. Still, killing close to 50 players within first contact, wasn’t something to just ignore. Especially when the battle was only 1,000 players, instead of 10,000.

That being said, the surprise was ruined by those poor souls that died early on, as the survivors, mainly the lucky ones who noped out of there the moment they saw the ships approaching, had gone back and, as expected, warned their teammates about what was coming. And, because of that, they were able to prepare.

Arguably though, James wasn’t sure how much preparation actually had been managed before the surprise attack, and after the surprise attack. He had no way of knowing if the enemy forces had been summoning their forces beforehand or waiting to see what his players were doing. At the very least, what they countered with, seemed, appropriate. And, honestly, rather expected.

They countered with dragons.

Now, that was kind of a no shit. James expected the Dragon Dungeon to use dragons. However, what caught him off guard, was the variety of dragons the dungeon had at its disposal. Normally, when James thought dragons, his mind first went to massive, red, fire breathing monstrosities. And, there was no doubt in his mind the enemy had those. However, they were a Dragon Dungeon. Meaning they weren’t limited to just the red, fire breathing ones, that say a Fire Dragon would have. Instead, they got the whole variety of them, and that, gave them a versatility James hadn’t expected.

First, the enemy forces filled the air with flying Dragons of a variety of colors. These dragons, as they approached his forces, varied from reds with flames, to blues with lightning, and some shiny, metallic ones thrown in with other breath attacks. These were, of course, the standard dragon’s you’d find in say, a Dungeons and Dragons style manual.

These flying dragons, most of which ranged between 10 to 20 feet in length, had a couple of riders atop each, launching ranged attacks along with the dragons down on James’s forces. His forces, appropriately, were responding with their own cannon fire when capable, or otherwise, launching long range skills and magical abilities.

From there though, more dragons flowed from out of the Dragon Dungeon’s side of the Fields of Battle, these being aquatic types, which slid effortlessly into the water, and began seeking out positions underneath the ships to engage in combat. Unlike the Zombie Sharks and such that James’s forces were used to fighting, these underwater dragons still had breath attacks, which launched torpedo like blasts underneath the water towards his ships, or high-powered water jets from just above the surface.

The other aspect of these dragons, both on air, on land, and in the sea, was they were all upgraded mobs. They all took advantage of the ability to be upgraded across multiple floors of the dungeon by the Dungeon Core, which James, sadly, was unable to do. As such, these Dragons, if they were the fourth floor variants of the mobs, had upwards of 40 points worth of upgrades applied to them. Meaning, their stats were much higher, and their skills a lot more potent, than any singular mob James’s dungeon had its disposal.

This also meant the enemy mobs were much more specialized and finally tuned to fit in with whatever their set role was in the dungeon. From what James could tell, certain dragons were built differently, and seemed to have been modified in a way to effect their fighting style. The red dragons, for instance, had a lot of life and fire power it seemed, and their fireballs erupted upon impact, sending flames that burned hot enough to evaporate water dancing about.

Meanwhile, there were these thin, almost translucent dragons that flittered too and fro in the air, who moved much faster than the others, and seemed to play a support role, healing and applying magical buffs and shields to the larger, combat orientated dragons. And, along the shore that signaled the end of James’s side of the FoB, and the start of the Dragon Dungeon’s territory, massive, heavily armored, wingless Dragons seeming made of stone waited patiently. They were indomitable in appearance, and if he had to guess they were a tank style mob.

All in all, the response by the Dragon Dungeon’s players was an effective, well thought out one. They were utilizing their mobs to launch a multi-pronged attack on James’s players and doing so in a way that kept their players, mostly, safe. They were, testing the waters, so to speak, and it was impressive. It showed these players, at the very least, had to deal with a variety of situations, and knew how to stay level headed, and formulate plans.

That, or they’d just all had their favorite types of dragons, started summoning them, and then formed up in pods of dragons they liked, and sent them out in groups once they’d learned his players were all on ships. That was…definitely an option.

Either way, James was enjoying the fight unfurling below him. It was an epic battle, the types one would marvel at in a high fantasy movie. However, the downside for the Dragon Dungeon’s players, this time around, was that the ships these players were on, were giving them massive buffs. Even if their mobs had benefited from high levels of modifications, at the highest, they were fourth floor mobs. James’s players, these 1,000, had mostly all been farming a fourth floor, and some had made it to the fifth floor. These were players easily capable of handling themselves in dangerous situations, and buffed as they were from their ships, in order to fit their play styles and tactics, they weren’t going to fall easily.

And then of course, there was one other difference on this battlefield, which James was immediately forced to remember. He watched a red dragon fall from the skies, its wings torn asunder, electricity arcing along it as it fell. Rue was on the battlefield. The Dragon Dungeon may have summoned mobs, but James’s dungeon had summoned an Avatar. An extremely ruthless, powerful Avatar at that. And one whom they’d purposefully pissed off with their previous war declaration. An error, James knew, Rue was going to make them realize.

He chuckled as she destroyed another dragon, killing the player riding atop it as well with a massive blast of lightning. Then, even as she finished them off, Z and Knight’s launched their Yamato Cannon. The blast erupted across the water, decimating a handful of aquatic dragons that had surfaced, and obliterating three of the giant stone dragons as well. If the Dragon Dungeon wanted to win this, he knew, they were going to have to reevaluate their plans, and fast. Because as it was, now that the surprise and admiration of their response had worn off, James’s players were doing what they did best. They were going full on murder hobo.