The demon couldn’t be seen by the main force since there were many trees blocking their view, only those up the mountain could see him. Nobunaga and Drazi both started to madly run around to make sure each group was positioned properly. The Knights were in front, creating a wall of shields that wrapped around the base of the mountain. Blossom was right behind the wall with a large group of warrior, even she was running around to make sure everyone was ready. Assassins were scattered throughout the forest, they were in charge of picking off any ranged enemies while the wall of knights kept the rest of them in check. The walls that were set up on the mountain had mages, archers, and healers all ready to provide backup for their melee players. Those that could see the giant demon started to sweat, thinking that they didn’t stand a chance.

Other players around the mountain had noticed something was going on, when they received the faction announcement they all rushed to the frontlines. Most players would fall in line with the rest of the armies; knights going where the knights are, archers where the archers were, and every other class falling in line with the players that were already there. This helped keep the fighting force more organized. More players started to funnel in, all becoming eerily quiet when they noticed the tense atmosphere. The army didn’t run into any problem until other big guilds arrived, using their own strategies since they didn’t want to mix in with other people. Most players would still fall in line with Sora’s army, but a good amount also started to follow the example of the other guilds and seperated from the main force.

Tens of thousands of players had covered the base of the mountain, making the mountain look even more intimidating. Sora and LeeLee looked down from above, looking like great generals that would lead a conquest. The boss was still pretty far away but the smaller enemies should be funneling in at any minute. The quiet was broken by a scout that came running back to the main army.

“Enemies straight ahead!”

The treeline started to be replaced by a line of demons with black skin and red horns. They all wielded a simple sword but they looked and sounded very intimidating. Every player froze up as these ridiculously high leveled enemies appeared. The average player level within the army was only 39, meaning they were far below the enemy in levels. The demons ran at the wall of knights that started to loosen up thanks to their nervousness. Blossom saw the fighting spirit that every player had disappear when the demons showed themselves. She wanted to boost the armies morale, so she did something near suicidal. She used [Savage Pounce] followed by [Devastating Quake], knocking over 15 enemies at once. She used a single shout to reignite the fighting spirit that was lost.

“Long live The Eastern Legion!”

The shout echoed throughout the mountain as Blossom used another [Savage Pounce] to regroup with the army. The echo had barely vanished when a thunderous response came from the thousands of players.

“””LONG LIVE THE EASTERN LEGION!”””

The wall of shield once again created an impenetrable wall, where each shield overlapped to leave no gaps in between. The demons didn’t even make it to the wall before a rain of arrows littered the area in front of the army. The mages were casting at a steady rate, creating a constant stream of explosives without using up all of their mana at once. Many demons died while the ones that survived kept pushing forward, climbing over the bodies of their comrades. The scene looked like a tsunami crashing against a mountain as the demons started to attack the wall of shields. White and gold flashes could be constantly seen as the healers did their best to keep everyone healthy. The casualties on the player's side was minimal, only killing the players that decided to do things on their own and occasionally killing a lower leveled knight. Sora and LeeLee were monitoring the positions of everyone while giving out orders.

“Nobunaga, reinforce the right side. Drazi your knights are starting to separate. Ballista and catapult groups can start firing. Magic cannon and artillery should hold off.”

“Mister fisherman, scout reports say that the next wave consists of enemies with bows.”

“Got it, tell the assassins to get ready. When the next wave gets here tell the knights to create an opening for the warriors to pass through, otherwise they will just sit there and be shot to death. Nobunaga, you will go with Blossom to penetrate the next wave, have Athenes make a small group of healers to follow you.”

The first wave couldn’t make it past the wall of shields, creating a good starting point for the rest of the fight. The demons were being killed off quickly by ranged attacks, giving the knights an easy task of holding them off. The first wave only had a few more rows of enemies left by the time the second wave came. They had bird heads and carried a bow made from a green wood. The archers and mages weren’t close enough to get a shot on the demons, leaving the knights to tank as much as they could.

“Magic cannons and artillery will shoot five volleys of attacks. Nobunaga, use that time to help the knights open a path. Warriors and assassins should be ready to blitz the enemy after the fifth volley.”

The magic cannons started to hum as fire filled their barrels, shaking slightly from the immense magical power. The magic artillery formed icicles and started to frost over from the intense cold. Both weapons fired at once, the magic cannon ravaged the demons that were grouped up and almost killed them in one hit, they eventually died due to the flames left on the ground. The artillery created a rain of razor sharp ice that tore apart another group of enemies, turning a part of the battlefield into a zone that would freeze enemies. A mix of explosions filled the sights of the army, boosting their morale even further as they watched the enemy perish so easily.

The fifth volley hit, triggering the roar of thousands of warriors that rushed towards the demons. The assassins quietly took out enemies from the back, only making a sound when they attacked with their daggers. Blossom looked like the battlefield was her natural habitat as she tore through the enemy with ease, using [Savage Pounce] and [Devastating Quake] to break apart their formations. This wave was much more brutal since the archers and mages couldn’t do much against the demons, a large amount of knights had fallen due to the bombardment of arrows and hundred of the lower leveled warriors were quickly disposed of. The players held the advantage in numbers but the demons made up for it with their levels. Sora had ordered the rush tactic because he wanted to take out as many archers as he could before the next wave appears. If another melee wave were to come then the demon archers would be able to freely bombard the players without any worries. The archers were killed off very quickly but only at the cost of many player casualties.

The random players that were trickling in would either join the army or quickly die when they tried to rush into the demons. Even players who had been playing solo the entire time didn’t hesitate to join the army when they saw what happened to people who were overconfident. Other guilds started their own offensive, using the army as a decoy while they safely pick off demons. It irritated the people who were putting their lives on the line but there wasn’t much they could do about it. Sora tried to get them to work with him but they either ignored him or gave some random excuse. LeeLee was busy managing the army when another scout had reported to her, she had a terrible expression as she came up to Sora.

“Flying enemies are on their way. Some of them are carrying black orbs that are glowing red. A group of assassins weren’t careful enough and was spotted, resulting in the black orb exploding and killing everyone.”

“Everyone retreat up the mountain, flying enemies are on their way. Make sure to kill any enemy carrying a black orb first, if they get too close then it’s over! Ballista should never use their ammo to shoot a regular flying enemy, only target the ones with the black orbs. Catapults should finish off the archers after we retreat. Magic cannons and artillery should not stop firing, use mana potions if you have to!”

The battlefield suddenly turned very chaotic. The knights backed up while the warriors and assassins ran back, some getting shot in the back. Sora could see giant bats flying through the trees, occasionally he could see one of the black orbs. The big guilds that didn’t want to work together didn’t know what was going on, they were suddenly split apart and left in the open. The bats were close enough for the army to see, each one with long fangs and red eyes. One random player didn’t notice that everyone retreated, his fate was sealed when a swarm of bats pounced on him. A guild that had been left in the open was unlucky and was instantly wiped out by the explosive orbs that the bats were carrying, even their knights were two shot by the explosions. The archers and mages in the main army started to bombard the sky with projectiles, creating what looked like a sky filled with fireworks as the black orbs exploded. The explosions would kill off a lot of bats but also create a heavy smoke that blocked the view of the army. It didn’t take long for accidents to start occurring. A bat suddenly rocketed downwards into the knights at the front, creating a large blast and opening up the wall of shields. The smoke from the blast blocked their view even further, the only thing visible being the flashes of light within the smoke that was always followed by an explosive sound.

“If any mages know any type of wind magic then use it to clear up the smoke!”

Only a handful of mages started to cast low level wind spells. The smoke thinned out a little and created more opportunities for the archers and mages to unload their damage on the bats. This one wave already had three times the amount of casualties the waves before this did.

Explosions kept resounding, killing off a massive amount of Sora’s army. Drazi was doing even worse and only had about a third of his guild left. A large portion of healers were taken out, including Athenes. Nobunaga has also fell to the explosions so Sora made Blossom take over. The wave finally ended when half of Sora’s force had been wiped away. Sora was sweating as he looked at the massive amount of casualties, he didn’t think it would turn into this much of a mess. LeeLee was also in a tight spot as she looked at the battlefield which used to be filled with a seas of players but now looked a little empty.

“Scout reports say that the next wave is low in number but the enemies look very tough.”

“... how many are there?”

“Five in total. Each of them looking like a lizard man and wielding dual swords.”

“Split the remaining force into five different groups. Try to make their power even, if any group falls then we will order a retreat to the outpost. Have the magic cannons and artillery fire as many shots as they can until they run out of mana, after that ditch the weapons and find a safe position to help from.”

“Got it.”

Sora looked at the remaining army with a difficult expression. They all looked demotivated from the last wave, resulting in some even leaving the battlefield. The random players were still cleaning up some straggling demons and looked like they didn’t care too much about anyone else. There was a little time before the next wave so everyone was currently restocking on supplies or resting to refill their mana. Drazi and Blossom were the only captains left. They came up to Sora with their heads hung low, as if they were ashamed of the outcome.

“The players will become demoralized if they see their leaders like this, you need to keep your head held high even if you are facing the enemy alone.”

“...We could have done mo-”

“Stop, you should be proud that we were able to keep the army together for so long. The Red Devil should not be so remorseful, she should be the savage force that tears apart the enemies and lifts the players spirits.”

“You’re right, I’ll fight until my last breathe.”

Sora looked at his dagger and sword, the reflection showing his downcast face. He tightened his grip on the weapons before snapping out of it, wielding them as he walked towards the frontlines.

“Then I can only follow your example. Show me how savage I should be, Red Devil.”