Harriet briefly looked at the Shamans arguing with each other. She could feel the new strength of the Three-Horned Rhinoceros but as long as she stayed in the skies, she would be out of range of its attack. She was two levels above the totem spirit but still felt threatened by it.

The wind around Harriet calmed down, revealing the poor figure of the Flame Commander. Flint was covered in bruises; the flames surrounding his body were no longer vigorous. His HP bar was almost empty, but he managed to survive the attack. His Fiery Bird was not in good shape either.

"You managed to survive? Interesting. You used a Bead of Solace to escape a killing blow. Not bad. It seems like your dungeon master values you to give you an item that cost 500 thousand DP like that. You were bluffing, right? Making it look like there are stronger monsters in your dungeon when You are in fact the strongest monster there."

Flint coughed out blood and answered back: "Do you know what you have done? Your dungeon is doomed now. Even if you can somehow defeat the Three-Horned Rhinoceros, what about the level 45 Shaman and the rest of the Vicious Rhino Tribe? Can your dungeon handle them all? There are more than five hundred barbarians left!"

"If you quickly apologize, I will command the Fire Golem to attack the Vicious Rhino Tribe. Without my help, your dungeon is doomed!"

Harriet laughed. "Really? You are just wasting my time with this useless talk." Killing a monster at level 40 was not a challenge for her. With a single attack, she took out the rest of Flint's HP.

'Now, it is time to deal with the Three-Horned Rhinoceros. With the help of the other totem spirits, we should be able to deal with it. At worst, we'll just buy enough time for it to lose its energy.'

She quickly joined the Skyblazing Crow as she activated her battle form.

...

Contrary to the barbarians' expectations, the players had been extremely useful in this battle. After having lost their levels after the failure at the dungeon, the players now averaged level 24. Their attacks were negligible as they only dealt 10-20 damage which was negligible when facing the barbarians' high vitality.

However, these attacks were useful in disrupting the barbarians' attacks and buying time for the Musclewood Tribe. They did not fight directly. The players stayed at the back and used their mages, rangers, and priests to deal damage while healing. The players with physical classes stayed with the range classes and used large shields to protect them from the arrows of the barbarians.

Many barbarians had the hunter class which allowed them to be extremely precise with their arrows. Despite being blocked by the shields, each arrow would deal 25-35 damage to the shieldbearers.

The mages' spells barely tickled the barbarians, but they were enough to interrupt them in their attacks. Whenever a barbarian would try to swing his ax, he would receive a [Mana Bolt] in the face. The arrows of the rangers had a similar effect. They were more of a disturbance than a threat. As for the priests, they focused on helping the barbarians and the shieldbearers survive.

More than half of the players died during the short battle. Only thirty-one were left. When they saw the barbarians momentarily retreat, they heaved sighs of relief and used their recovery items.

"Iron Shark. How long is this going to last? We are clearly on the losing side!"

Iron Shark wore a severe expression. He knew better than anyone that the situation did not look good. The attack came earlier than they expected, and the Blue Lagoon elites had yet to arrive.

"This is bad. The outcome of the battle has yet to be decided but one thing is sure. At this rate, we won't be getting anything out of this fight. Our contribution is close to zero. We are not Blue Lagoon's elite. We were not meant to be the one fighting this."

"Do you mean that the Musclewood Tribe will refuse to give us access to the dungeon?" asked a player.

"As you can see, they did not really need our help. I argued that we would be able to significantly lower their losses because I thought the elites would be able to delay their enemies, but they did not even arrive yet," said Iron Shark. He could not be blamed for the outcome, but Iron Shark was still looking for ways to obtain more benefits.

If the ten tribes won, he would get nothing. It would not be very different if the Musclewood Tribe won either as his contribution was negligible. They managed to kill zero barbarians and compared to the healing of Ester and Lovin, their priests' skills were negligible.

By the time the Blue Lagoon's elites arrive here, it would be too late; the battle would already be over. A large number of players would have been mobilized for nothing and knowing the higher-ups' behavior, Iron Shark would be the one to shoulder all the blame. It was something he could not accept.

"What do we do then? At this rate, the only thing we'll be getting out of this is our team members losing a few levels," complained another player.

As he heard him, a thought crossed Iron Shark's mind. "Since we are losing our levels anyway. Let's use our scroll. It is too expensive to be used by one person but if we all contribute, we won't suffer as much."

He took out a bright red scroll from his inventory and showed it to his teammates. The players were shocked. It was a precious item they managed to acquire a few days ago. It was a Grade 4 Scroll containing the level 40 spell: [Fire Comet].

Scrolls were rare items in the game. They were one-time use items that allowed players to use spells well above their levels. However, there was a heavy price to be paid. The players did not use any mana to wield the powerful spell. Instead, they paid for it in experience!

To use the Grade 4 Scroll, Iron Shark needed to pay 10 million experience but he himself did not have that much available. He was back at level 26 after dying at the dungeon. He needed 600 thousand experience to level up. Even if he lost several levels, he would not be able to pay the 5 million exp required.

Fortunately, the cost could be shared among the users of the scroll. There were thirty-one players. If they all agreed to lose one level, it would be enough to power the scroll.

"Do you all agree?" asked Iron Shark as he looked at the other players.

"Well... Losing one level is better than losing two when dying. If this spell ends the war, I am in," said a female player.

"Yes. I support you, boss."

Iron Shark smiled. The remaining players were all his trusted subordinates. He was sometimes rough with them but having followed him for a while, they trusted each other.

"Good! Then, I'll aim for the Shamans! We cannot defeat a level 55 monster, but if we get rid of all the Shamans, it should pretty much end the battle." Iron Shark ripped the Scroll apart as a system prompt rang in his ears.

He quickly paid the price and nodded to his teammates. They all sacrificed a portion of their experience and fell in level but at the same time, a bright comet appeared above Iron Shark's head.

'What is happening?' The barbarians were alarmed. This battle had been complete and utter chaos. Aside from the Vicious Rhino Tribe and the Black Vulture Tribe, who was the eternal ally of the former, all the tribes had stopped fighting the Musclewood Tribe.

However, the situation did not get any better for the Musclewood Tribe. While the majority of the barbarians were not fighting, the barbarians of the two tribes still amounted to 650 which outnumbered the 350 barbarians of the Musclewood Tribe still alive. Furthermore, Joyah was now so powerful that the collective effort of the three Shamans could barely hold him off.

They were starting to panic when they suddenly saw a giant ball of fire appear above the players' head. The fireball spun on itself and grew in size. It ripped across space, falling toward Joyah!

Old Luke, Old Dale, and Ester cheered. They could feel the power coming from the fireball. Only a powerful mage who invested heavily in wisdom could produce that kind of aura.

The fireball flew above the head of the barbarians; they could feel the heat as they inadvertently flushed red. However, to everyone's surprise, the fireball exploded right in front of Joyah! It exploded into countless pieces and fell on the unfortunate barbarians under the explosion. They screamed in pain but were completely ignored by their Shamans.

Worthy of being a large tribe, the Vicious Rhino Tribe accumulated a decent amount of resources and relics!

Vellen and Joyah combined their efforts, activating the Rhinoceros' Hide, a defensive relic coming directly from their tribe's totem spirit. The two Shamans paid a heavy price to activate the relic but, in the end, they managed to stop the Fire Comet and all the attacks of the three Shamans.

The Grade 4 Scroll the players paid so much for was completely countered.

Vellen and Joyah let out a sigh of relief. Their back was drenched in sweat; they had to use one of their tribe's most precious relic but they averted this crisis.

However, their vision suddenly darkened. Vellen and Joyah did not understand what was happening. The ground underneath their feet shook as several putrefied arms appeared. They grabbed onto the Shamans' ankles, not giving them time to recover from the use of their relic.