Chapter 389

“I’m going to call it a draw.” Rue said smugly as they watched James’s forces recover from the charge. Most of his fleet had headed back to the spawn zone of the Fields of Battle, while a scouting party consisting of, mostly scout type players, rushed towards the carnage, looking to gather up what essence they could. The devastation of Rue’s attack had been immense, and both sides had suffered losses.

However, while the loss of player life, James felt, had to be close to equal, thanks to the destructive nature of the earthquake and the accompanying rockslides and such, James knew most of the essence would be recovered by the Dragon Dungeon’s players. Meaning they would have more fuel to summon mobs, bosses, and the likes with.

And considering Rue, an Avatar, had been slain as well, James knew the Dragon Dungeon was about to get a huge chunk of essence. For even if his scouts could pick up the essence of his fallen players amidst the rubble of the collapsed canyon, there was no way they could reach the epicenter. Meaning the Dragon Dungeon, in his opinion was coming out ahead.

Still, James knew that it had been necessary. The secret ritual summon of the Dragon Dungeon was still too much of an unknown. If they’d let the ritual complete, there was a good chance his forces could have faced even more destruction. That ritual needed to be stopped. James just wished it hadn’t cost his side an Avatar and most of their tank and melee players. Losing those players, and the skills their classes brought to the battle, was going to force James’s players to have to reevaluate some of their future strategies.

Additionally, the threat of that ritual summon was still hanging in the air. Rue had wiped out a lot of cultists, but they didn’t know if that was all of them, or if they would attempt it again. James’s players had already decided they couldn’t afford to sit and wait on their ships. They needed a new plan, to bring the fight to the Dragon Dungeon, but without their front-line forces, it would be tricky to manage. After all, ranged units were dangerous and such, but they were almost always squishy. Meaning they’d prefer people with high defenses and stats to act as their human shields, in any sort of engagement.

Of course, James knew the perfect tank his players could use, if they so wanted it. After all, Rue may have fallen, and her Avatar could no longer be summoned, but James could still enter the fray, if his players allowed it. And he would be more than happy to bring out Monty Python and reintroduce the world to the Siege Snake.

However, that was still up to his players. The ever obvious downside of being a Dungeon Core was he couldn’t actively interact with them in order to try and force the hands, or ‘encourage’ them to summon him. Sure, he could try to message Z about it, but with only 1,000 players total on the battlefield, he had a feeling it would start to be suspicious to Z that the player had never met James’s player in the game. A risk, he wasn’t willing to take.

Additionally, while they were nearing the end of the second hour within the Skirmish, essence was still a rare resource. Players gained 1 essence every ten minutes during the first two hours of a skirmish. While they’d started with 5 total, meaning 5,000 essence at the start of the war, they could, technically, have an additional 12,000 essence to use. Unfortunately, they were now sans 200 players, and on top of that, Rue was gone. So their earlier investment of 3,000 essence into her, was wasted.

Perfect world, that meant they’d still have a little over 10,000 essence to use. Plenty still to summon James with, and do some other crafty things with as well. Plus, he was sure his players had gained a good chunk of essence from killing of the early dragon mobs that had been thrown against their naval forces.

But, James couldn’t know for sure, and that uncertainty, meant he couldn’t plan out the best route for his players. Well, for the most part. There was one thing for certain. A group of five players had just gained the ire of the Knight’s Who Go NI, and a good deal of other players. This, because they’d found James’s completed mech station at the spawn area when they’d been heading back, and had rushed to it. The group of players, all in the mid and low 40s, had burned through their essence, and stolen Voltron from the clutches of the Knight’s Who Go Ni. Sure, it wasn’t a huge crime. But given what had just happened, probably not the best life choice.

Avatar Summoning- Warmonger- Avatar will be summoned in 20 seconds.

“You bastards.” James growled as the message appeared across his screen. The players had just blown 3,000 essence to summon Vinnie as an Avatar. What even was Vinnie’s avatar? Sure, the Warmonger appeared tanky…but, he was an unknown. Why would they go ahead and summon him, and not James?

Avatar Summoning- Core- Avatar will be summoned in 20 seconds.

His anger immediately subsided as the next message appeared. Sure, the fact he was the last one summoned stung. But it was alright. At least he was finally getting summoned. Though, his players had just used 6,000 of their what he guessed was 10,000 essence. They were left with 4,000 roughly, and he was curious what they were going to use it for. He had a few ideas on how they could utilize the points, but at the same time, he knew they had their own plans. These 1,000, well, 7,00 and some change players remaining, were his top tier players, after all. Meaning he should, and could, trust their judgement. Even if they’d summoned him last.

“Try not to have too much fun storming the castle.” Rue said with a friendly wave towards him. She summoned her usual assortment of drinks and snacks, seeming in a much better mood now that she’d gotten her revenge on the cultists. From here on out, this was just a friendly, fun scrimmage. There was nothing important on the line. There was no life-or-death situation. This was now, very much so, just a game.

James couldn’t help but smile at that as he prepared himself to be summoned. When was the last time he’d been able to just enjoy himself within DCO? When was the last time he’d gotten to just play the game, without worry? Oh, he was about to enjoy himself even more now.