As an unwritten agreement, Tyrel's defense is directed by the big guilds.

To avoid unnecessary command chain shenanigans, each guild focuses on defending their part of the town.

The northern gate is under the protection of . With the new construction site, they are putting the minimal defense on the actual gate, and fortifying the area around the siege weapons instead.

The eastern gate is in territory. With their few numbers, it's an experience festival for them as they are outnumbered heavily, even by the raid's standards. Still, it's normal business. This isn't their first raid ever since the town was built in closed beta.

The western gate is guarded by . While their main force is fortifying outside of town, the waitresses are a fighting force on their own. Coordinated with other smaller guilds, there should be no problem holding off the horde.

The southern gate is under 's jurisdiction, supposedly. Except for the crafter area, the players owning this part of the town are somewhere near the edge of the map. That main force can protect themselves just fine. However, for this part of the town, the small guilds and unaffiliated players have to organize their own defense.

As usual, of the broadcasts the raid information from [Inspect] result of the enemy.

This time, it is the typical "numerous weaklings accompanied by strong bosses" kind of raid. Lucky for everyone, the enemies only have HP buffs/debuffs. The strategy for this type is simply attrition warfare.

_ Warrior: Alright guys! Use your best shield and block the gate! Do not kill the enemies! Let our magi handle the killing!

Against such overwhelming number, the melee fighters are always engaged in combat, with or without killing the monster in front of them.

Therefore, the plan is to let magi debuff the in-combat monsters to oblivion, and blast the enemies behind. Melee players will get their shield and defensive skill experience, while ranged attackers enjoy the "chicken" shooting contest.

_ Archer: Enemy approaching!

_ Mage: Aim at the ranged monsters first!

The monsters can scale the walls, but that's only when they have no other paths to the players there.

That's why the gates, which are supposed to keep the enemies from entering, are wide open.

_ Mage: FIRE! [Lightning Bolt]!

As the dark horde made up of many monsters with a black aura charges towards the outer walls of Tyrel, the defenders unleash their full power.

____________

_ Ignar: [Deflect]!

The warrior quickly raises his shield to block off the incoming attacks. The shield is top notch, and these are just lowly monkey-like monsters that have been debuffed to the point of being weaker than a level 1 player, so there's no damage at all.

_ Tippe: [Fire Bolt]!

_ Maximus: [Piercing Arrow]!

His two party members are going ham at the monsters stuck behind the battle line. was a bit too weak last raid to be effective. But this time, he has his new enchanted staff, so he can finally catch up to his level-capped friends.

By doing the so-called "Power leveling" method.

In such a target-rich environment, AoE (area-of-effect) skills reign supreme. After level 10, the amount of experience for the next level becomes quite substantial. Without a way to quickly gain a massive amount of experience, even closed beta players wouldn't be able to reach level 20 in just one month.

_ Ignar: Has anyone seen the bosses?

_ Tippe: Stuck in the middle of the horde, as usual. Keep those in front of it alive and it will never make it here.

_ Ignar: All according to plan then.

The bosses are pretty much the only way for the fortifications to fall, as they potentially have the attack power to overwhelm the healing from priests. Still, with careful targeting, it's possible to keep them out of range until the raid ends.

Because that's how most raids were fought, the last time someone killed a raid boss was in the first week after release. It was said that the loots were similar to a normal field boss, so the players didn't bother.

_ Olkan: The siege weapons have decent damage output, all things considered. We don't really need AoE against the Magnus Bestia but I'm not complaining.

Defending players at the construction site were nervous at first because all they have are wooden walls. However, monsters were busy fumbling around trying to go through the open gate, so the strength of the walls doesn't even matter.

For a supposedly apocalyptic event, the mood at the construction site is quite lax. Everything is going well after all.

Totally no death flag there whatsoever.

____________

_ Knight: Buffs running out!

_ Priest: On it! [Physical Shield]!

_ Mage: Grant us protection! [Magical Shield]!

In the south, the defense is getting a bit hectic. They know the general strategy in the raid, so what they are doing is not unlike the more organized areas. Moreover, the gate defense is holding.

The problem lies in logistic.

Without a big guild backing them up, players usually won't have many consumables in reserve. Once the few potions run out, the healers simply cannot keep up.

_ Priest: Last potion!

_ Mage: Is there anyone with spare potions?!

After half an hour of valiant fighting, their supplies are running low.

_ Merchant: Here! Make it count!

's merchants are providing whatever they can to the defenders. Still, without any manager to open the treasury, they are the same as any other players around here.

_ Mage: Thanks! Hey! Stop killing! Just hold the line!

_ Spearman: Oh shut up! I need offensive skills too!

The cohesion leaves much to be desired, to say the least.

Since ventured out, and were helping with coordination in raids, but today they are busy elsewhere.

The consequences are finally showing up, much to the frustrations of present players.

Even the ranged players are not killing as many as they could be. They should be partying each other, then focus fire to finish off enemies in one volley. Here, everyone is just shooting all over the place, resulting in a bunch of low HP but still standing monsters.

Especially ranged monsters. Those are actually fighting back against players on the walls, forcing healers to spread even thinner.

_ Archer: …? Hey, are you seeing what I am seeing?

_ Mage: What?… Oh.

Quite a distance from the walls, a black gigantic salamander is fighting… something. It is definitely the boss of the southern area, considering its size and there's no other salamander in sight.

Why an idiot is fighting right in the middle of the horde, completely cut-off and surrounded, is anyone's guess.

Meanwhile, the defenders are busy PK-ing the stupid spearman disrupting the line. He's not even using defensive gear!

____________

Near the pitch black salamander with glowing purple eyes, a knight (kind of) is charging fearlessly.

Monsters in the way are offed by one strike from the halberd. Raid monsters are at various levels, but the bosses' minions are usually near level cap. And here they are, as some players would say, getting rekted by a single player.

The salamander swings its spiky tail at its enemy who is charging from the flank.

_ Fuelri: [Parry]!

She stabs into the incoming tail and pins it down to her side. Even though the skill reduced the damage, her HP still dropped a chunk.

_ Fuelri: Tsk! Just die already!

Crushing an orb in her hand, her HP increases to full again.

_ Fuelri: [Pierce]!

Even with defense piercing attacks, only around 1000 damage got through each hit. That's around the amount of a normal attack on a trash mob.

Usually that amount of damage is high even for a level-capped player, but for the solo player fighting against a boss, it's still not enough.

She is going to need to pray to RNGod again later to [Enhance] her weapon even more!

---

[Onyx Halberd]

- Creator:

- Quality:

- Enhancement: 7

- Enchantment:

- PAT: 100

- PSP: 7

- MAT: 60

- MSP: 9

---

It is definitely a strong weapon, but the [Accelerate Bonus] is the reason her damage is so absurd. The additional [Enhance] was totally worth the money, but her wallet is still crying.

_ Fuelri: [Leap]!

The brown horse she's riding on jumps forward to avoid the claws of the salamander. Taking the chance, strikes once more right in the boss's head.

Her mount is bottom-tier, so it's not really fast. She needs skills to evade attacks or reduce damage. Tanking is not an option, as her inventory is filled with monster corpses, not consumables.

She had decided that food and alchemy buffs were enough before going into battle. The amount of enemies is so high, HP potions simply can't keep her alive until the raid ends. She will just kill as many as she can, then have revive her once it's over.

Raid monsters do not eat corpses, so her death count is safe as long as someone can bring her back to life.

She didn't intend to fight the boss though! It was nearby and she found herself unable to outrun it after an accidental encounter, so she had to retaliate!

_ Fuelri: Just how much HP does this thing have…

It's probably tougher than the boss she fought yesterday. And at the time she had a whole party backing her up, with healer and tank to keep the boss from targeting her.

In other words, it's suicidal to fight this one even if her damage has jumped up.

With her skills, she can probably withstand one or two dozen hits, but that's about it.

_ Fuelri (Party): , can you resurrect me once the raid ends?

_ Shadyna (Party): Eh? Are you going to die off-screen? At least do so heroically in front of your girlfriend!

Again, the little girl is spewing incomprehensible things. If sanity is a status in this game, hers is probably zero or even negative!

_ Fuelri (Party): Can't outrun a boss, so I'll probably die.

It's best not to question why is still in the Crystal Valley. doesn't want to risk losing her sanity more than necessary.

_ Shadyna (Party): Because there're too many mobs?

_ Fuelri (Party): That too. But mostly because it's faster than me.

_ Shadyna (Party): Then can't you lose yourself in the crowd? Is the boss the type that kills enemies and allies alike?

_ Fuelri (Party): Not sure, I haven't fought raid bosses before… I'll give it a try.

It's not like she has any better idea. She didn't even plan the fight to begin with!

Swinging down the halberd once more, directs her horse to run straight ahead, into the angry horde of monsters where the density is the highest.

_ Fuelri: [Rapid Assault]!

Not a good idea to use this against the boss as she will pass by after the first hit. This time, however, there's no shortage of enemies in front of her. With lower HP than normal, monsters drop like flies on her path.

The salamander is right behind her, but because of its size, it couldn't move through the crowd quickly. The crowd itself dissolves upon greeting her halberd, so just keeps on going at full speed.

[Skill Leveled up: ]

_ Fuelri (Party): I hate to say this, but this is actually working!

Since mobs cannot touch her, the HP regeneration is doing its job. After charging away from the enemies for a while, her HP is back to full.

She has gained quite a distance from the boss too.

Thinking so, she turns around in a half circle path and charges at the boss again.

_ Shadyna (Party): Of course it would! It's the basis of cavalry shock tactic that mankind has developed for generations!

_ Fuelri (Party): I am using an actual tactic?!

The elf girl cannot even fathom the thought of the crazy little girl knowing about warfare, considering her… eccentricity.

_ Shadyna (Party): I don't know, since I can't see you? But you should never stop. Cavalry dies the moment they halt.

_ Fuelri (Party): …Understood.

She's remembering the footages of fighting against . After the seemingly-defenseless girl started her carnage, she never stopped running except for special circumstances.

During that time, the enemies were thrown into confusion, and there was barely anyone who could even land a hit on her. She was always in the middle of enemies, and wreaked havoc before they could react.

Just like what is doing right now.

_ Fuelri: [Pierce]!

A whooping 1500+ damage.

Her attack power overcame the boss's defense, so any additional damage is dealt in full. On virtual paper, the skill level up just now gives her an additional 25% more damage, but in practice it became the 50% increase as proven just now.

_ Fuelri: [Leap]!

Moving away from the boss to avoid its retaliation, the elf girl blends into the crowd again.

This hit-and-run will make her DPS (Damage-per-second) plummets, but she is practically unharmed. Any stray hits will easily be healed by HP regen.

This is going to take a looooong time, but she can see it.

The end of the battle where she emerges victorious.

____________

Three hours since the raid started, the event is finally over.

Sunlight pierces through the dark clouds covering the world during the raid, burning the blackened monsters to dust.

The monsters already engaged in combat remain, but with such few numbers, they were quickly killed by the defending players.

Tyrel stood strong, and so did the construction site at the outer walls of it.

Players start looting the item bags on the ground. The monsters burnt by sunlight do not leave drops, so the only drops they get are from the monsters they actually killed.

_ Hessenria: [Mass Dismantling]!

For the players who have [Dismantling], the main battle has just begun!

_ Vladina: Let's check the southern area. I hope we held it properly.

_ Olkan: The defense held. Otherwise the marketplace would have been screaming.

Two guildmasters with so much free time go to the south to check for damage. They are going to charge 's guildmaster, so there's no problem!

_ Olkan: Yo, everything's fine here?

_ Mage: …Yeah.

_ Archer: …The defense's fine.

_ Knight: …Walls are damaged, but standing.

_ Olkan: What the heck were those pauses?! Did something happen?

Everyone has the dead-fish eyes as if they have seen things they wish they hadn't. Some are repairing walls, some are crafting consumables to resupply, most are gathering loots outside.

Only players who fought the monster can pick up its loot. Other players will see a red outline on the bag, indicating they cannot interact with it. After a while anyone can pick the bag up, but that takes quite some time.

_ Mage: You can see it from the wall. I don't advise it though.

_ Olkan: Saying that is just asking people to do that exact thing!

Being savvy players who know bad flags when they appear, and decide to climb the wall to see what's up anyway. What's the worst that could happen?!

Far from the gate, where players' attacks would not reach, the guildmasters see two silhouettes.

They are surrounded by crafting spheres and loot bags.

The shorter player is working on the crafting tirelessly.

The other player is running around picking up item bags. There's no other player doing the same nearby. In other words, those two killed the monsters on their own.

Rough estimation is around a few hundred bags. That did not include the amount they had picked up before the guildmasters arrived.

After getting a few bags, the scavenging player brings them back to the crafting player. The reason of the crafting sphere spam became apparent: They were [Dismantling], but could not keep up with the amount of corpses being brought in.

's eyes have become the same as the players in the area.

, seeing the potential business opportunity, run to them.

…When he arrives, he recognizes the players immediately.

The young elf girl with big boobs who tried to charge into the raid horde, and the Illusive Sprout.

_ Olkan: WHY IS IT YOU AGAIN?!

____________

was surprised to see her former guildmaster here. This is the opposite direction of his camp.

Still, she's not going to stop gathering corpses. There're too many corpses to wait. They won't expire, but if left too long others will be able to pick up. Moreover, sometime in the future, corpses may expire for real, so this is good practice for that time.

_ Fuelri: What? I am busy here.

_ Shadyna: Please just stop and talk to him, Elri~ I am drowning in crafting spheres already~

_ Fuelri: Sorry, but please keep it up.

_ Shadyna: Sad cry~

_ Olkan: Uh… Why not use the guild's [Dismantling] crew? Members get discount you know?

That's how manipulates the market. Having a more favorable deal between members give them advantages against other crafters. For examples, they don't have to pay the 1 silver coin fees for [Dismantling]. Such "discounts" encourage merchants and crafters to join as time passes, allowing even bigger discounts and world domination!

Of course this kill count is not comparable to a big guild's total effort on Tyrel's defense, but it is already on the level of a small to medium guild. The 10% cost from [Dismantling] this pile of corpses is a very substantial amount.

As a merchant, cannot overlook that.

_ Fuelri: …What are you saying? I am not your guild member anymore.

_ Olkan: Wait, what?

The young man stands dumbfounded. That is to be expected. Just before the raid, she even introduced herself to be in his guild!

_ Fuelri: I quit when you shooed me away from the construction site. And no thanks to your service. We'll do fine on our own.

_ Shadyna: I'm not fine at all~

The Illusive Sprout, despite the whining, is as carefree as ever.

_ Olkan: Wa… wait, can we talk about this? I didn't mean…

_ Shadyna: , she has already said "no" you know~

She's already holding the Jelleaf in her hands, ready to retaliate at full power. Just thinking about what happened to his guild members who fought against her gives the guildmaster shivers down his spine.

_ Olkan: Please put that down!!! It was a misunderstanding!

_ Fuelri: No thanks. I have work to do.

After that, players reported seeing the guildmasters of and eating in with dead-fish eyes. in particular was also in tears.

He missed a business opportunity, and lost a member with huge chest in the same day.

____________

The tavern is crowded again.

After a raid, many players will request the [Dismantling] service from the waitresses. No boss was slain, but the bigger monsters may have good loots, so they want to make every [Dismantling] attempt count.

_ Nerin: [Mass Dismantling]!

_ Mera: [Mass Dismantling]~ Chop, chop, to the netherworld~

Everyone is overworked, so patrons mostly keep themselves entertained.

--- Topic: Cute girls appreciation thread #38 ---

## CuteIsJustice

The waitress corps fought bravely at the western gate. (≧∇≦)/

If only Hessenria was there too. [Pics]

##

## Heaven Piercer

Our harsh mistress fighting side-by-side with the lolicon guildmaster was a feast for the eyes too, I have to admit. [Pics]

Any chance for her to beat me up like that?

##

## Fire mage of Justice

The south gate was a mess as before, but we… saw… this. (-"-) [Pics]

An elf, at least E-cup, in heavy armor, wielding halberd, destroying everything in melee.

WHAT. THE. HECK! （ ﾟ Дﾟ)

##

## Curious big boobs elf

F, not E.

##

## Mage of Sin

So that's what you were doing. And damn, dat cup.

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

##

------

--- Topic: Cavalry Elf discussion ---

## Serious Mage

Due to popular demand from the cute girl thread, here's the thread to discuss the new anomaly that is the big-boobs elf at the southern gate during today's raid.

Here are some footages provided by the players at the time. She was soloing from a distance, so it's hard to see what she was actually doing.

[Links]

##

## Bountiful Hunter

Wow, she's a cavalry(wo)man in action.

Any idea how her build works?

##

## Manly Warrior

Mounted combat has this plaguing problem that is the mount itself. Mounts don't deal damage in combat, so they level slowly and their stats are weak compared to their riders. They will die fast and riders will have to fight on foot anyway.

It is viable for ranged players, but horse archery is not easy, even with skills. And tanks can't protect you if you run around like that.

##

## Serious Mage

She was guarding her mount using her own HP. Combined with her mobility and one-hitting damage, monsters couldn't hit her mount to disable her.

I fear for the day she gets a stronger mount.

##

## CuteIsJustice

Always on the move and killing everything in sight? Are you sure you are not talking about our dear Particle Lolider?

##

## Fire mage of Justice

They were seen together after the raid by the by.

You can probably still see them now, dismantling the mountain of enemies she has slain. (-_-)

##

## Silver Merchant

Surge of new cavalry players incoming? Need to stock up on mounts!

##

## Manly Warrior

As I said before, mounted combat is not popular for a reason.

Without knowing the basis of her style, it's not going to end well.

##

## Curious big boobs elf

I'll give you a hint: Shock tactic.

##

------