Act 1: Abyss
ACT 1 Abyss
“Gram, gram, mahogram!”
Dudududu, dudududu!
A group of monsters ran across the swamp. Their overall appearance looked like a lizard. But it wasn’t an ordinary lizard. It was a lizard double the size of a human and wearing armour with weapons.
“A rush? Razak!”
Clack clack clack, clack clack clack clack!
Razak rushed forward at Ark’s command. He lifted his shield powerfully and slammed it into the ground while flames emerged from both sides of the shield. The flames formed into wings which the lizards ran into.
Kwa kwa kwa kwa kwang, pepepepeng, hwarrrrruk!
With a tremendous roar, the lizards were engulfed in flames and stumbled. It was the special skill Iron Fire Wall from Razak’s shield made from the skull of the Fire Draconian. Around 100 lizards were caught by the Iron Fire Wall and their ‘rush’ was cancelled and they became stunned. It this state it was possible to counterattack and deal massive damage to them! However, Ark didn’t dare counterattack.
“Karak, maram! Gram, gram, mahogram!”
A rough voice was audible from behind the lizards. Then the lizards wrapped in flames rushed again along with an extra 100 lizards. When the lizards approached with their swords brandished, Ark bit his lip and shouted.
“Damn, it’s started again, Razak, fall back! Dark Eden, prepare your defense formation!”
“Defense formation!”
100 warriors repeated the command. The ones at the front of the battle formation was the shield unit. They placed their shields down and lifted their spears at an angle. It was a formation designed to strike the enemy while defending against their charge. This defensive formation and the speed at which the warriors formed it was a result of their suffering in the secret dungeon.
Kwa kwa kwa kwa, kwa kwa kwa kwa!
There was a roaring sound as the lizards impacted with the defense troops. The defense formation was formed with 100 people. On the other hand, there were hundreds of lizards which rushed at it. Nevertheless, the defense formation didn’t crumble. Most of the shock from the impact was absorbed into the shield and dispersed into the ground. The lizards who blindly rushed forward were also hit by the spears and fell down. While the defense of this formation was the best, it also had a fatal weakness. Since they required a sitting posture to prevent the enemy’s charge, they were almost defenceless after that. In addition, the size of the monsters was 2~3 metres.
If they attacked from above then there was no way for he shield troops to respond. As expected, when the rush was obstructed the lizards immediately lifted their weapons. If they took an attack in that position then the damage to the shield troops would be devastating. Of course, Ark wasn’t the only one who realized this when looking at the situation.
“Archers and magicians, stop those lizards!”
“Horizontal Fire, Precision Fire!”
“Ray of light which pierces the darkness, Ray!”
A huge number of arrows and magic flew towards the lizards. The reason the warriors crouched down wasn’t simple to raise their defense against the charge. It was to raise the attack of the archers and magicians. The magicians and archers played an important role in battle. Warriors could only attack when close to the enemy. In other words, it they attacked the enemy then the enemy could attack back. So for warriors a battle was like a war of attrition.
However, archers and magicians were different. They could attack enemies from a distance without receiving any damage at all. When fighting a huge enemy like a dragon, it was difficult for more than a few dozen warriors to attack one monster because of space limitations. However, hundreds or thousands of archers and magicians could concentrate their attacks on one enemy. There were no distance restrictions. So it was possible to reduce the enemy one at a time. Thus archers and magicians were an indispensable presence in fights. However, in practice the archers and magicians’ abilities were limited on a large scale. The reason was their allies who weren’t enemies.
Archers and magicians had low health so they couldn’t be on the front lines. Their role was support at the back. In other words, there were always allied between them and the enemy. The attacks from magicians and archers flew in a parabola in order to hit the enemy. So there was always the chance of hitting their allies first. That’s why the archers and magicians were positioned so their curved attacks didn’t hit their allies. To users in New World it was common sense. Naturally, Ark had also used that method until now. But he got to know the archers and magicians better after invading the secret dungeon and his thoughts had changed.
‘That method is too inefficient.’
The reason Ark thought that was because of how archers and magicians used their skills. Archers and magicians had numerous skills and they were divided into two main types, a straight or curved attack. So if there wasn’t an obstacle between the enemies then they could attack directly and if there was then they could use the curved attack. Of course, the horizontal attacks were more powerful. It was similar to when throwing a stone. One thrown in a straight line would be more powerful than one thrown in a curve. The damage and accuracy of a horizontal attack was 1.5 times better than a curved attack! In addition, there were several limitations to using a curved attack. When soloing the most effective skills for archers were ‘Precision Fire’, ‘Rapid Fire’, ‘Piercing Shot’ etc. In the case of magicians, it was skills which had a short incantation speed and power like ‘Ray’ etc.
But those skills were horizontal attacks and couldn’t be utilized properly in a group battle. Of course, the wide area skills had a lot of power in a large scale battle but some of them had cool down time of 2~3 hours. When considering those points, the archers and magicians only showed 50% of their actual abilities on a large scale.
‘Is there a way for an archer and magician to wreak havoc in a group?’
Ark had been thinking that since he started invading the secret dungeon. Then he found a surprisingly simple answer. It was the formation where the warriors crouched down and defended. When the warriors at the front crouched down, they exposed the enemies to the archers and magicians. All the obstacles blocking the archers and magicians had disappeared! The archers and magicians immediately changed the way they attacked and hurled horizontal attacks like a machine gun. The arrows and magic flew straight forward like a clothesline and wreaked havoc! Both the power and accuracy was incomparable to the curved attacks.
Kwa kwang, tu tu tu tung!
The precision shooting attacked the vital spots! The arrows accurately stuck from the joints of the lizards. Thanks to the arrows stuck in elbows and shoulders, the lizards couldn’t attack without flinching. That was why he wasn’t worried about the counterattack when the troops crouched down. When the magician’s attack ‘Ray’ hit the knees, the lizards immediately stumbled. Once the movements were disrupted, an ally would take care of the enemy. With this simple idea, the archers and magicians could use 100% of their abilities in a large scale battle.
“Now’s the time. Shield troops, push against those fellows and advance!”
“Ohhhhhh!
The warriors seemed to bounce up and brandished their shields simultaneously. There was a rough metallic sound and the lizards were pushed back. After they struck, the shield troops immediately sat down again and allowed the magic and arrows to fly.
“Okay, it is a little hard but if we continue pushing like this…..”
Just as Ark was about to push against the lizards again.
“Master, those lizards are preparing for a huge rush again!”
Racard’s voice could be heard from above.
“Gram, gram, mahogram!”
At the same time, there was a loud roar from behind enemy lines. Then the lizards at the front split to the sides and 100 lizards rushed forward in a wedge formation.
“Bah, it is impossible! Defend!”
Once again the warriors used their shields and spears to build a barrier. Then just before the rushing lizards collided!
“Karakin, baram, noramuda!”
A commanding voice rang out and the rushing lizards simultaneously jumped like frogs. Ark’s heart also simultaneously jumped like a frog. Ark had used that tactic several times so the lizards had already found a countermeasure for it. Just jump over the warriors who were crouching and break through! Ark hadn’t realized that the lizards would think like that and hurriedly shouted.
“Archers and magicians, stop those lizards!”
The arrows and magic blew into the crowd of jumping lizards. The lizards were almost defenceless when they jumped. Once intercepted by arrows and magic, those guys fell into the swamp. However, he hadn’t expected the move so his reaction was delayed. Around half the lizards managed to break through.
“T-this….is serious!”
Panic spread on Ark’s face. Currently all the warriors in Dark Eden were posted at the front. Because the lizards had suddenly jumped over, they couldn’t immediately respond to the situation. Moreover, the lizards still at the front started attacking. If they turned around to attack the lizards who intruded then they would be attacked by the enemy in front. Meanwhile, the dozens of lizards who intruded rushed at the magicians and archers.
“Huck! S-scatter!”
“Keuahahak!”
This intrusion and confused fighting was the situation magicians feared most! The magicians and archers who had lost their protective screens couldn’t properly oppose the enemy. Furthermore, the lizards were mixed in with allies so they couldn’t fire arrows and magic blindly.
‘Dammit, this is the worst situation!’
Ark’s breath felt clogged as he heard screams from everywhere. Of course, only a few lizards had broken in so the magicians and archers could take car