Kapitel 519: Finalized Strategy
On the map provided by Jarvis there lie a somewhat inconspicuous manor. Surrounded by naught but thin walls. Yielya's instructions were directed towards this manor instead of the tower.
This manor was home of a powerful vampire, one the undead King's most loyal and powerful servants. Its distance from the castle itself was great, and the tower was only slightly closer to it.
Yielya began to explain her strategy, "We divert their focus here. Pressure their forces at the manor enough to warrant them sending backup. The closest being the Lich and his army. It is here where we launch our main force."
A large force was to intercept the Lich as they traversed towards the manor. Rapidly surrounding the enemy reinfrocements and pinning them to a single spot.
"This could work. However what of any other reinforcements?", Uranium questioned.
"Excluding the king himself, I doubt we'll have trouble regarding the Third Stage combatants. Nonetheless, what are our forces looking like?"
Akiol was the one to answer this, "Our Third Stage force is exclusively Six Lights and Opportunity. Excluding Wrock, he isn't here, and Yielya."
"Dot's here too.", Kan'na added.
Akiol raised an eyebrow to this, "I didn't invite him."
She simply shrugged at this, "Dualistic Inheritor is his Epithet. I barely managed to spot him in the distance. He sent some cryptic message, but showed no signs of helping or hostility."
"Then ignore him, it's likely he has some other goal here. Can't rely on him to help."
The Guilds showed wariness at the mention of Dot. Oppressor, Venturing Deities Guild Leader, pointed out the issue with Dot's presence, "We weren't informed he was going to be here."
Akiol extinguished their worries, "If he acts up I'll stop him."
". . ."
Opportunity stifled a laugh and steered the topic back on track, "So how are we splitting up the forces?"
"It's unlikely the manor holds any significant force. However numbers are important enough to warrant a response from the Lich. I would say we keep Torch's mechanical army to intercept the Lich's army.", Yielya immediately crossed out Torch's involvement.
"So a sacrificial pawn is needed.", Torn Choice shook his head at the realization.
Opportunity huffed, "I'll join the force. Any Third Stage enemies I will handle."
"Confidence is nice, but our knowledge regarding the combat power of anyone inside is nothing.", Torn Choice argued.
"I too will join this force.", Akiol offered.
It was clear that none of the Guilds were willing to stand up to the task. Although they joined the battle, they weren't planning on becoming a stepping stone. This was only becoming more clear to Akiol and he needed to instill any confidence he could.
Kan'na suppressed the urge to roll her eyes and instead explained, "Excluding myself, Opportunity and Akiol are the strongest attacking force we have. Jarvis and Tilia are support, and are needed to maintain the numbers of our limited force. No one will get more insurance than this."
<Star Driven Sword asks if the comment meant Unparalleled Dimensional Magician was stronger than him>
<Unparalleled Dimensional Magician merely smiles at the message>
Akiol and Kan'na shot looks at each other but no one else noticed. Instead Opportunity asked, "So who's stepping up to the chopping block?"
Seven Vows, the leader of Raven Thread, raised his hand, "Raven Thread will. It only makes sense for the strongest Guild to take on the most dangerous task."
The moment Seven Vows worded the sacrifice as noble the other Guilds cursed themselves. It was certainly a better PR standpoint. Additionally, if the attack went well, Raven Thread would get most of the credit.
Yielya nodded towards Seven Vows, "Excellent. Remember: the plan is to launch an attack. You need to make it seem legitimate. No holding back, I'm sure they'll be able to tell."
"Naturally. Our Guild members remain unaware of our true target. So their fervor remains."
"Good, now we plan for the main assault. There's naturally a few things that remain uncertain, I plan to give you all a debriefing on the most likely to occur.", Yielya continued the meeting.
Very rapidly the strategy meeting concluded, with Yielya's strategic mind showing its might. Although the plan was simple, the entirety of Six Lights was aware that she shone brighter during the heat of uncertain battle. This meeting was nothing but a direction, it was up to her to maintain the march in that direction.
Before leaving to enter positions, Kan'na added one final step, "Here, this will make it easier to maintain contact."
A magic circle appeared on everybody's right ear. Kan'na casually gestured to her own while explaining, "Hold a hand to the circle and it'll transmit your voice. It'll be up to you to command those under you however."
Herons marveled at the simple, yet convenient, magic, "Can you not implement this to everyone?"
"It slowly drains my mana. While I could maintain a connection with every soldier, it wouldn't put me in a good position during the fight. This should suffice to keep us on track, and allow us to inform each other if anything occurs."
"This means if you fall we lose our communication with each other."
"There's some procedures to keep it going, but it won't last more than a couple of hours after my death. However if I were to fall I think you all would have grander issues."
"Your confidence is both unsettling and comforting."
"Just keep communication on this line strictly for important things. I haven't had time to design a channel switch so everyone will hear what you say into it."
"Roger."
Everyone left the tent and began to coordinate with their units. Akiol rejoined the elites from Eternal Candle and relayed the information to them. After filling them on the details he then assigned his own task to them, "I have two teams I think are enough to handle the generals and their army. Determined Souls will handle Carthino. I have Bakery Basics taking on Vertigo. Your job is to tackle Northan."
"What about us!", Givale squeezed through and rejoined Akiol's side.
"You're to join your mother in keeping air superiority. Mira you can join her for this. I'll need your strength to change the tides of battle at certain points, so be prepared to drop in at any moment."
Akiol intentionally did not tell the guilds about Givale and Mira also being Third Stage. From what he could tell Third Stage through a link had a different property than a normal ascension. While they have the strength needed, and the Epithet, it gave off a different feel.
Regardless their strength was undeniable, and Akiol did not need information regarding these two to spread too quickly. It was unsure if the link was truly permanent, Akiol had witnessed the rules of A World's Legacy bend and break a few times. If at any moment the link broke, and the two lost their respective Stages, they could be in a very deadly situation. Until Akiol found out a way to prevent such things, he intended to keep knowledge regarding the two on the lower end.
"Let's get into position, it's about time we get started."
. . .
"Remember the formations! Everyone is to follow orders, no questions asked! Any deviations will have you excluded from any raid bonuses!"
The Guilds swiftly, yet still chaotically, organized the various players into their respective squadrons.
As the plans were explained there was some complaints among many:
"Why is Raven Thread going first?"
"It's the number one Guild, probably has some special rights or something."
"It's not very fair."
Akiol slipped through the crowd and joined Raven Thread's side. Standing somewhat inconspicuously. Occasionally a player recognized him but no one came up to speak.
That was the case until Seven Vows came to ask, "Do you intend to stand in the back?"
"I'm watching in case anything goes amiss. Opportunity will be enough regarding Third Stage."
"Is this confidence in her or an underestimation of our enemies."
"You'd understand the feeling the moment you become Third Stage."
Seven Vows took the words at face value and returned to organizing the Guild. In merely a few minutes the Guild Leaders voices spoke through the magic circles. All stating they were ready.
"Let's move!", Seven Vows' voice commanded as it echoed across the area.
Footsteps began their march and hundreds of mounts were summoned. The ground began to rumble as thousands of players and mechanical robots traversed its uneven surface.
Travis watched this from a distance, his emotionless mask tracking the large number of players.
'I don't know if they'll succeed. A march against the undead? There's not even a Fourth Stage among them.' -Lumen
"If they had any additional help I think they'd be fine. A single Fourth Stage would be enough. . .", Travis frowned as he finished his thought, "Is there an Angel who could assist?"
'You wish to help them?' -Lumen
"No, but the undead. . . Does it not go against the Holy Codex?"
'No, their existence falls within a niche category. The same reason why they aren't deemed heresy by the World.' -Lumen
"Why is that?"
'Because they're nothing but reanimated bodies. They all lack a soul.' -Abe
"The Lich himself controls Souls as his magic."
'They were not ripped from the Life Cycle, and they will return to it the moment he uses the Souls.' -Lumen
Averoth appeared in the corner of Travis' eye, "All this talk about the World. What matters here is how they intend to handle the Undead King. As much as I hate to admit it, Stages are not easily trumped by temporary power."
There was a period of silence before Travis spoke an idea, "There's a chance their target isn't the Undead King at all."
"Then it's a waste of time.", Averoth shook his head and walked out of sight
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein