บท 212: A long night (2)

[System Announcement: The time has come. The Night of Macabre shall officially begin.]

The system announcement rang into the ears of all the players. The atmosphere suddenly changed. An eerie fog rose from the ground, reducing the visibility of the players. Time seemed to freeze as the ambient light suddenly changed; the sky colour changed into strange dark red colour while the moon was gradually turning blue.

It was hard to breathe; all the players felt an invisible pressure onto them but at the same time, as those who stood under the moonlight felt refreshed and at peace. They were all benefitting from the Blue Moon with a buff of five stat points in Intelligence and Wisdom.

All the players fell in a daze. A cold breeze blew over their face, causing the dense fog to dance in the distance. Under the moonlight, strange forms started appearing, hidden by the fog. Dark stars illuminated the blood red sky. For the first time, the players felt that they were truly in a fantasy world.

While the players were admiring the ever-changing landscape, the monsters and NPCs remained on their guards. Their vision decreased to 500m; having their main sense obscured brought a feeling of unease. A few silhouettes appeared in the distance, but none made their way toward Venetia.

For the monsters, it was not their first Night of Macabre. They knew that during the first two hours, only a couple of Undead would appear. The first Undead were extremely weak but as time went by, stronger Undead would appear. For now, they could take it easy and conserve their strength.

Watching from the city wall, Iris frowned lightly. She had naturally seen the actions of the players. Out of the 8000 players who signed up for the quest, only about 1000 moved in their allocated position. The rest all belonged to guilds who gathered at the edge of the city wall.

'What are they thinking? Are they not going to fight?' thought Iris.

"We should return and rest for now. There is nothing to watch for the first few hours." Ceres, the Elphame, advised.

"Let's wait a little bit. You said the first few hours are perfectly safe because the strong undead need more time to awaken. I hope that we will make it through the night. Without a city wall, Venetia is too exposed to attacks. Although I do have enough DP stored in case of emergency, I hope I won't need to use them."

"Don't worry. We have been leeching off for so long. It is time for us to get to work and protect our home." Neptune, the Naiad confidently said.

"I hope so. Because even if we survive this event, we'll have the fourth trial coming in just a few days." Iris said with worry. She looked at her player interface. She currently had 1.7 million DP, all saved up for the fourth trial. She earned a lot because of the presence of all the guilds but it would not last for very long.

The 10 million DP loan she asked Five did not arrive yet. The latter simply answered that he would consider it but as long as he did not immediately refuse, Iris felt relieved. She knew asking for 10 million DP was a lot.

While the monsters were reassuring Iris, the first battle took place on the East side of the town. A few skeletons emerged from the fog and slowly dragged their body toward Venetia. They seemed completely disoriented, constantly changing directions. Fortunately, these skeletons were extremely weak, still at level 10. The Lionmen easily dealt with them in a single strike.

More skeletons and zombies emerged from the fog at regular intervals but as the monsters said, they were all extremely weak. Nevertheless, the players who did not belong to the guilds, were all excited and got to work. It was an opportunity for them to grab some free loot to exchange for the special items. However, based on the rules, they were only allowed to collect the loot from the Undead they defeated. At first, many wanted to follow behind the guards and sneakily collect the loot but to their surprise, the NPCs were also actively collecting the special loot called "Wish Bone".

"Let's go back inside for now. It is pointless for all of us to stay here and watch." Iris said after confirming that the waves of Undead were unable to threaten Venetia. Staying here would be a waste of time and create unnecessary stress for the monsters. Although she was the mayor, she was also the weakness of all the monsters. She was only level 25 and needed to be protected.

…

During the first two hours, waves after waves of Undead came crashing into the defenders of Venetia. The number of Undead increased with each wave but their strength was the same; any player could kill the Undead with a single strike. Their only threat was their ever-increasing number.

As the clock indicated 20:00, a changed occurred in the ambient light. The sky became darker and more menacing. The fog in the distance suddenly became denser and mysterious lights appeared in the distance. A new wave of Undead appeared but this time, the Zombies and Skeletons were accompanied by Resentful Spirits and Ghouls ranging from level 15 to level 20.

The new monsters were stronger than the previous ones, but they did not make much of a difference. Nevertheless, Mars remained cautious. "Rotate the guards. Let those who have been the most active rest!"

He glanced at the Templar Knights fighting at his side. He did not like how Iris was receiving help from the religious bodies, but he had to admit that the Temple was taking a lot of pressure off his shoulders. They did not even start to use buffs or large-scale offensive spells, saving their mana for the later portion of the Night of Macabre.

The battle continued. The first waves consisted of about 100 hundred Undead but now, that number increased to 250. The East Side was under the most pressure while the waves crashing on the West Side contained far less Undead.

"Ask the humans on the West Side to move twenty men to the East Side. We need more people here. We should send two Elphames on the West Side to heal the injured."

"The South is still safe. The church's executioners and the adventurers dispatched there do not have any losses yet."

"What about the players? Look, they are just standing there not doing anything. Are they really planning on spending twelve hours doing nothing? Do you think we should do something about it?"

Ceres and Neptune commented on the battle taking place. The Elphames and the Naiad faced the least pressure on the North Side thanks to the city wall. This gave them enough time to observe the progress of the battle.

Neptune shook her head. "No. We can just ignore them for now. Venus should be keeping an eye on them. They are still within the territory of the dungeon; anything they do cannot escape our eyes."

…

Two hours later, another change occurred in the dense fog and even more monsters joined the waves of Undead, increasing the number of Undead to 400 per wave, crashing on each side. Death Knights, liches and Zombeasts joined the Undead army.

A loud roar sounded in the distance, attracting the attention of all the fighters. It came from the South West, where the Humans and the church's executioners were fighting.

"Karyn. You should go and have a look. Then, take a rest until the next phase of the Night of Macabre," Mars said. He quickly evaluated the situation. The roar most likely came from a boss monster. While he was confident that the church could deal with it by themselves, he still needed to send someone.

"Got it. You should still be able to deal with these pesky Undead. Remember to rotate the fighters too." Karyn left the battlefield and returned to the town. There, she saw the injured being treated by a few humans. Once they noticed her arrival, they quickly brought her a bottle of water and something to eat.

Karyn gladly accepted the food. She was already tired after fighting for four hours but her competitive spirit pushed her to continue. She wanted to prove herself. As long as Mars kept fighting, she would continue too but looking at the bigger picture, she knew it was unwise to compete against the Lionman.

She rested for a few minutes before rushing toward the South Western part of the town. However, her presence here was not required. When she arrived, she saw the large corpse of a level 40 Bone Drake crumbling under the holy spells of the priests. The Bone Drake was a powerful monster but facing the combined strength of the church's executioners and the priests, it did not stand a chance. The light spells were the perfect counter to the undead energy in its body.

"Tsssk. You are too late. Return where you come from. We don't need your help to deal with such weaklings." A voice sounded to Karyn's right.

Looking over her shoulder, the dark elf saw an old priest sneering. She could tell the priest was powerful and was looking down on her. But Karyn simply ignored him. Having been exiled from her tribe, Karyn remained unaffected by such comments. She remained silent and after seeing that the situation was under control, quietly return to the town to rest.

…

Another two hours later, the third phase of the Night of Macabre started. The moon took a darker shade of blue while the fog further reduced the visibility of the fighters. The new wave of Undead brought with them Phantoms, flying Bone Wings and Revenants.

This time, the pressure on the defenders increased significantly. They already survived half of the Night of Macabre; they only needed to persist for six more hours, but these would be the longest six hours they would live. The new monsters were all around level 30, making them stronger than most of the players engage in the defence. For the first time, the players were facing a challenge and needed to cooperate and make actively use skills to deal with the Undead. If it was not for their equipment, they would be utterly powerless in this fight.

On the other hand, the NPCs could still easily deal with the Undead, but the increasing number of enemies was making it harder and harder. They took longer to deal with each wave of Undead and now, they barely had time to rest between each wave. Fortunately, the Naiad and the Elphames intervened, buffing the defenders on the West and North Side while the Temple and the church helped those fighting on the East and South respectively.

As time went by, the pressure on the defenders kept increasing. The difficulty of the waves of Undead did not change but rather, the number of defenders was slowly going down. They had been fighting for more than six hours, despite the rotation. Many players were already exhausted and wanted nothing more than to drop out of the fight. To them, the Night of Macabre was just a fun event. They did not need to work themselves to the bone; they have already made their contribution and would be rewarded by the adventurer guild.

Nevertheless, the battle continued as the monster persevered. The clock was ticking and the fourth phase of the Night of Macabre was about to start. Out of the 1000 players who joined the fight, less than a hundred were still fighting.