Conquering OtherWorld Starts With a Game

Chapter 175: Reversal

It had to be said that the cavalry of the Radiant Sun Church were indeed formidable. Of the several hundred wanderers who dashed in with Windwalk to abduct enemies, most were turned into white light. In the end, only a handful of luckier players successfully achieved their tactical objective in the first round—dragging back six "minion monsters."

In any realm, "sacrificing" dozens just to gain a captive would be considered a massive loss in any battle.

But of course, the players here didn't tally such accounts in the usual way.

"Whoa, six full sets of armor?!"

Upon witnessing the maneuver of this group of players, those who hadn't joined a group were practically drooling.

"Big bros, take me with you. I want to join the team too!"

"Ah, I've shed blood for Taranthan, fought for Old Yang! I want to see the group leader! Grant me an audience with the group leader!"

Unceasing Entropy had been pulled to the frontlines the moment she got on (via Qin Guan's summoning artifact "Book of the Undead") and took over as the group leader from Yang Ying. She calmly instructed the members to securely bind the six captured enemies and display them blatantly in camp, then arranged for members in the group to form new squads and add members in.

In this game, there was no upper limit to the size of a large raid group. The group leader could infinitely expand the number of squads within the team by inviting squad leaders to the group channel.

With nearly a thousand fully armed humanoid monsters awaiting harvest, players were relatively content with the arrangement to distribute equipment on the spot after capturing enemies.

After all, this had always been the distribution mode adopted by veteran players, and the atmosphere of any game was often set by veterans. Newcomers causing trouble would face verbal and written condemnation from both new and veteran players and might even be cornered and attacked.

On the contrary, for those who weren't a part of the group and were ineligible to partake in the auction for spoils of war, especially with six fully-equipped trophies on display as exhibits, this was a far more exasperating ordeal.

While expanding the group, Unceasing Entropy didn't neglect commanding.

"Wanderers, hold onto your Windwalk cooldown for now!

"Warriors and knights, save your Battle Roars. Monsters in this game are capable of learning. You guys will have to coordinate with the wanderers in the next try.

"Mages, stop healing and conserve mana for offensive support!"

While Unceasing Entropy was orchestrating tactics in an orderly fashion, on the other side, the cavalry, having lost six squires, were fuming, and their onslaught intensified.

Only the Radiant Sun Church could afford such an extravagantly configured combat force, with each knight supported by two squires as the smallest combat unit.

When facing the enemy head-on, all knights could become unstoppable blades. When tactics demanded, the highly mobile knights could lead their squires to disperse into agile combat units with the capability to roam and annihilate, splitting enemy lines and exterminating foes until the pressure became unbearable.

However, the Radiant Sun Church's cavalry unit's expertise in splitting the battlefield for targeted elimination proved ineffective against the undead.

There were two reasons for this. Firstly, these undead were too fragile and would die from being trampled by hooves.

Secondly, the undead's formation was too disorderly, or rather, utterly lacking… These fellas simply charged to the death wherever there was an opening!

Captain Roy strained his eyes so much they nearly popped out, but he couldn't find a flaw in these fellas—they were flawed throughout, but somehow paradoxically impregnable!

As Captain Roy wrestled the idea of splitting some forces to attack Charlie Rex and the others, who were still unmoving at the rear, in hopes of drawing the undead away from the front, the undead launched another "man-snatching" tactic, with a large number of swift undead infiltrating the cavalry's ranks once more!

"No way you bastards are doing as you please a second time!"

The knights and squires at the front, furious, jabbed their long spears and lances viciously at the skeletal intruders.

It was then that a group of undead mages, donned in robes, climbed atop their comrades' shoulders, raised their thick wooden staffs (issued upon the completion of their mage job advancement), and aimed at the cavalry's lines.

A subtle purple glow ignited at the tips of their staffs—

[Slowdown: Reduces the target's mental resistance by 5%, decreases target's movement speed by 20%.]

The Potential value (mental strength) of current magic-using players barely exceeded 100, whereas the regular knights of the Radiant Sun Church boasted mental strength generally above 800 (akin to a Lv 5 monster). Therefore, the success rate of players' dark magic skills affecting the knights were exceedingly low, and they were practically impervious.

However… the knights' mounts weren't!

When the several dozen undead mages cast their spells simultaneously, the moves of knights in the front two rows remained unaffected, but their steeds, lizard horses, became rigid and started to slow.

This gave the infiltrating wanderer players a golden opportunity. Unconcerned about enemy weapons piercing their bodies due to the nearby respawn point, they recklessly stretched out their arms, dragging down anyone within reach—even the knight and warrior players in the front line weren't idle as they grabbed and pulled onto the legs of the enemy knights.

"Die!"

"Scum!"

The Radiant Sun Church's cavalry, having never faced such ignominy, were enraged, slashing furiously, and a brilliant cascade of dissipating white light ensued.

But, it wasn't of much use.

The undead's numbers were too much, and they were fearlessly dogged. Before the effects of the mages' spells wore off, they forcefully dragged away more than a dozen captives back into their encampment.

The church knights, furious at the abduction of their comrades, roared furiously and made a greater effort to break through the enemy lines. Meanwhile, the several hundred undead that met their demise in the previous abduction maneuver cheerily jumped out from the tent and rushed toward the battlefield.

At one side of the encampment, Captain Kenn and Lieutenant Wagner Pitt, along with the Sokri mercenary contingent, watched the unfolding chaos with expressionless, numb faces.

How should it be put… This bizarre, absurd, and unsettling spectacle, giving them a sense of déjà vu, hardly evoked laughter…

"Haa… This was how we were overwhelmed by the undead back then," sighed the burly Adam, Captain Kenn's deputy.

"The never-ending undead is a true nightmare…" lamented the greatsword warrior Corrado.

Captain Kenn and Wagner exchanged a silent glance, then turned to observe the battlefield once more.

Having shared hardships in the demon dimensional realm for over a week (OtherWorld time), these two had forged an unbreakable bond of revolutionary camaraderie. Kenn had come to understand how Wagner and his city defense force soldiers had fallen… Misery loves company indeed!

During this time when the humans reminisced, the undead launched another round of "captive abducting."

This time, it wasn't just the mages firing their Slowdown spell on the enemy mounts. Knight players also joined in with their crowd control skills too. While the church knights were too high of a level to be affected by these skills, their mounts were susceptible.

Having been bested twice already, the church knights fought back fiercely as white light flashed around them constantly. However, yet again, it was futile, as more than a dozen comrades were dragged away in their full view.

With over thirty losses in under ten minutes, their mobility restricted, and their stamina waning, commanding officer Captain Roy bitterly eyed the enemy camp just a stone's throw away and ordered a retreat.

However, the undead, fervent in their abduction efforts, weren't about to let them go that easily. The church knights had barely retreated a hundred meters before the undead ensnared them once more.

Wagner couldn't help but heave another heavy sigh upon seeing this.

His own cavalry squad had fallen in the same way—those undead, light as they were, moved at astonishing speed! Even the robed skeleton mages could run like the wind!

Unable to fully exterminate the undead and incapable of escaping, instead getting caught up and having their strength whittled away bit by bit before being eventually exhausted and captured… Such bitter memories were best left unmentioned.

Despite being relentlessly entangled by the undead, the church knights, vastly superior in strength to Wagner's cavalry squad, managed to create enough distance to break free from these persistent adversaries.

However, as soon as the church knights returned to their encampment, they realized the undead were still hot on their heels…

The concept of restraint was simply non-existent to players!

Captain Roy was livid but realized the simplicity of their camp (since his knights rarely stayed there, preferring nearby farms) wouldn't hold against a straight-on assault by the undead. To avoid having their base overrun, which would render the battle moot, he arranged for his men to rotate rest while using the camp as a barricade to fend off the undead.

With the respawn point now a significant distance away, the undead couldn't effectively employ their zerg rush tactics, leading to a stalemate between the two forces.

The church knights were besieging the Weisshem camp one moment, and the next, it was the other way around. This rapid reversal left the Indahl spectators on the flat-topped hill utterly dumbfounded.

Among them, the Church of Lady Gold Coin's night watchmen captain was particularly shocked.

No one understood the ferocity of the Radiant Sun Church Inquisition's knightly order better than a fellow faith military personnel like the night watchman.

Had it not been for the geographical distance and the Radiant Sun Church's already vast territory, the night watchmen captain had no doubt that the Rhine Kingdom would have already become a diocese of the Radiant Sun Church a long time ago. Against the Radiant Sun Church, the Church of Lady Gold Coin stood no chance!

Switching his gaze back to the Weisshem camp, still teeming with undead, the night watchmen captain gulped hard.

Certainly, the Nightmare Butcher had given Charlie Rex some sort of magical artifact capable of summoning endless undead and it was hidden within that tent.

The Nightmare Butcher's support for Charlie Rex was even greater than what the Bartalises and the Church of Lady Gold Coin had anticipated.

The Radiant Sun Church's speculation that Charlie Rex might be orchestrating catastrophes was something the night watchmen captain had heard of, and he knew that both their knights and Bartalis-sent city defense force scouts had infiltrated Weisshem, only to be captured by the enemy.

The Church of Lady Gold Coin had feigned ignorance, not out of disinterest in Weisshem's affairs but rather because they enjoyed seeing the Radiant Sun Church taking the lead in tackling the nuisance—had it not been for the Inquisition knight's pursuit, the Nightmare Butcher wouldn't have ventured into the Rhine Kingdom, so tackling this mess was their responsibility.

From the Church of Lady Gold Coin's perspective, the best outcome was a deadly showdown between the Radiant Sun Church's knightly order and the Nightmare Butcher—both were thorns in their side, best left unattended.

But now, witnessing the undead army, merely an extension of the Nightmare Butcher, pinning down the Radiant Sun Church's knightly order without the Butcher's direct involvement sent shivers down the night watchmen captain's spine…

If even the Radiant Sun Church's knights can't threaten him or contain him… would the Nightmare Butcher be content with just Weisshem under Charlie Rex's control? The night watchmen captain considered this and subsequently broke out in a cold sweat.

At that moment, he saw the traitorous Wagner Pitt and a formidable-looking Sokrian approach the undead within the camp.

The night watchmen captain felt the hairs on his body stand on end.

He might not know the Sokrian, but he was familiar with Wagner Pitt. Despite being an unpopular foreigner, Wagner's rise to an officer in the Bartalis-controlled city defense force was proof of his capability.