Through the Undead conversation he predicted the day of the possible assault. If Vargo fortress was seen from afar, on one side there was humans brought by Weed that were fighting through the path leading to the interior. And near the walls, there was a united army of elves, barbarians and dwarves fighting the Undead.
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Pale and Maylon shot arrows without any interval. They entered the inner fortress shooting gargoyles foreheads with their silver arrows. They stood by the entrance and protected the priests by continuously shooting their arrows. It was because unlike Geomchi and paladins who had a decent level of defense, priests could die easily.
Priests usually support the battle from the safe and comfortable rear. They were in charge of healing and blessing which was a core part in party quests so they did not move around a lot.
“Huk. Huk!”
Breeman, a celebrated priest from Morata, immediately sat down on the ground as he came inside the inner fortress and was breathing heavily. He was priest Breeman that would receive adulation wherever he went, but joining a raid under Weed he had to run as hard as he could voluntarily. He thought that he would die by the Undead chasing them if he flapped and walked slowly because of his fat stomach.
Breeman finally felt relieved after he entered the inner fortress.
“Weed-nim, is this place safe?”
Weed just pointed toward hallway in front of him without any words. The inner fortress was filled with much stronger monsters than monsters in the outer fortress!
Three Vandal knights on their ghost horses charged against humans.
“Be careful!”
“An assault.”
Priests alerted one after the other.
Geomchi were already getting ready for it.
Instincts as martial artists. Although they couldn’t sense variety of dangers like adventurers or thieves, a chilling aura flowed and warned them when a strong enemy appeared.
“It’s been a long time since facing someone worth fighting.”
“Be careful. If you let your guard down, you will die right away.”
Vandal knights were presumed to be over level 430. Each of them were high rank Undead, who were given individual names, and they were further enhanced by Balkan’s Death Aura.
“Sword Cloning!”
Geomchis used their secret sword skill. Because Vandal knights seemed strong, they decided to give it all they got from the beginning. Each individual Geomchi19, Geomchi56, Geomchi101 and Geomchi147 cloned their bodies 10 times.
“The Balkan-nim wants living offerings.”
“You can only be used as sacrifices.”
Vandal knights, in a split second, rushed the Geomchis’ clones and slashed them. Each slashes made the clones disappear. But Geomchis didn’t prefer taking away enemy’s life slowly by using their clones.
It was only a method used to create an opening in their enemy so they could attack.
“Taa!”
Geomchis attacked Vandal knights’ weak spots that were exposed while they were attacking.
“Kyaaah!”
Due to their armour and Death Aura’s defensive capabilities the Vandal knights did not receive heavy damages from Geomchis’ attack. Despite the fact their joints such as backs and knees were struck, they only took normal damage.
“Healing Hand.”
“Warrior Healing.”
“Sun God Blessings!”
Priests and paladins’ holy spells struck Vandal knights a little later. It was healing and blessing magic that inflict horrifying damages to the Undead.
“Endless Brilliance.”
“Vitality Regeneration.”
While Vandal knights were weak, Geomchis attacked them indiscriminately.
Hwaryeong danced in front of two newly approaching Vandal knights.
Her own booby booby dance!
Vandal knights had an ingrained hatred of humans and attacked right away. But the closer the range of the dance the more influence became powerful so she continued to dance while barely dodging their strikes. It was difficult even for Hwaryeong but she managed to succeed.
“This is pretty nice.”
“They are worth beating.”
Those who were directly participating in the battle were beyond expectation as the knights had high defense. It was a nice opportunity to raise attack-related skill mastery and stats!
When Vandal knights died, Weed went to the corner.
“It seems I cannot stay as Undead from now onward.”
Vargo fortress was a place even a Doom knight can’t wander around freely. Not only was it impossible to give commands to Undead like in the outer fortress, he would also be under Balkan’s command. If Balkan tells Weed to attack, he could lose control of his body and fight the Geomchis.
“Time to change my body again.”
Weed took out a sculpture from his backpack.
“I need to get back to my original appearance.”
Combining the already sculpted head, legs, arms and body, it looked similar to Weed’s original face but slightly different. The sculpture had a high nose, squared chin, dark eyebrows and a nice symmetry. Not only was it handsome, it was about 12 cm taller.
Technically speaking, it could only be classified as the same human otherwise it was a completely different person altogether. The plastic surgeon would admire his well define fixes, and if he would go to the alumni reunion no one would recognize him.
“It feels comfortable like I’m looking at a mirror after a long time. Sculpture Transformation!”
Weed came back from an Undead body to a human. There were some physical differences but the height was similar so he had no problem adapting. He equipped items he used to wear as a human and Kolderim’s daemon sword and finally held the ‘Torchlight left behind by Sculptors’.
“Bit more comfortable now.”
Even though his body wasn’t enhanced in combats like when he was a Doom Knight, he was able to equip much better equipment. Also he was able to receive healing and blessings from priests so there was no negative side to it.
When Weed stood again in front of other people, Pale’s group and Necromancers were already in the inner fortress.
“Huh?”
“The effect of a sculpture…”
Due to the torch Weed held, users’ capabilities went up dramatically and their faith, intelligence and wisdom increased by 10 permanently.
“It’s the sculpture he made last time.”
“The sculpture from Weed-nim can do this much? A sculptor is a really awesome profession!”
While getting respects from the players, Weed spoke his plan.
“We will continue moving to the place where Balkan is. The monsters in the inner fortress will continue gathering… You must use holy spells unsparingly here.”
With just Geomchis fighting, the casualties from the Vandal knights would be huge. In Vargo fortress filled with Undead, they needed to do their best to break through.
“Undead will be coming from every side. What should we do?”, one of the paladins asked.
Right now, they were inside a perfect sealed barrier created by consuming all the mana from eight advanced priests. They were taking a brief break in an alley leading to the inner fortress, though this barrier could only last 3~4 minutes. Monsters entering from the outer fortress were a problem, but the strong monsters attacking inside the fortress were also troublesome.
“If we keep going, there is a stairway going to the basement. Balkan is beneath it. After holding off the stairway, we will form a defensive parameter.”
On the only stairway going to the underground, they would fight the Undead on the narrow path. The paladins and priest could take breaks there, afterwards they would leave behind some defending forces and gamble their lives fighting Balkan.
It was a very simple and basic plan, but it all depended on arriving to their final destination with minimum damage. Knowing the interior of Vargo fortress very well, Weed did not struggle finding his way and could act as a guide faithfully.
“Whew...”
Players were taking deep breaths out of anxiety. They were about to confront the legendary monster Balkan. If they won it was a relief, but if they could not and retreated, they would be completed annihilated without even getting out of the inner fortress.
Priests nodded.
“Let’s go.”
“We came this far so might as well see the end.”
After taking a break to recover their vitality, they kept moving on. Undead endless jumped at them but holy spells from paladins and priests blasted them. Evil spirits came at them from the ceiling, walls and floors, and sometimes Vandal knights appeared.
Weed advanced onwards with the torch and Geomchis, Pale’s group, priests, paladins and Necromancers followed closely behind.
“The Undead keep coming, do you think we can succeed?”
“I don’t know. But it’s Weed who’s leading us so I’m pretty sure we can succeed.”
“But first to be defeated maybe us….”
They could only follow filled with pessimism and irritation.
Monsters even came out from old paintings, Vargo Fortress dangerous dungeon was of impossible standards.
“The wall!”
“Ghosts coming out from the wall. Avoid them.”
“Look out for the monsters on the ceiling!”'
Despite the fact that there were a lot of paladins and priests gathered, victims due to the Undeads’ ambushes increased. If there is some health left, they could be saved by using a lot of healing spells but Undead with unbelievable levels killed about six Geomchis and paladins in a split second.
As a top priority, Priests were protected from every dangers but even so, there were many casualties among them. There were dangerous situation where they were attacked simultaneously back to front, but finally they were able to arrive at the wine cellar which was their destination!
If they just opened the door Balkan was waiting.
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“Ah! Now the fight against Balkan is waiting before them. It is the moment we’ve all been waiting so long for.”
“It is a battle with tremendous stakes for Weed.”
The scene of Weed bringing players to invade Vargo Fortress was broadcasted live across many stations. Having advance warning befor