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Vlad and his family, alongside his soldiers and friends, stood atop the upgraded wall surrounding Elderbridge. Artemis had already unleashed her barrier around the entire city, resembling semi-transparent golden threads woven everywhere.
From a distance, they could see a giant army of stone and colorful crystals rapidly approaching. Their own army was prepared outside—a formidable force of soldiers, mercenaries, and summoned monsters, the largest Elderbridge could assemble, numbering a thousand strong.
"Vlad, they're coming…!" Teressa exclaimed, her eyes widening in panic. "It's much bigger than I imagined, and they're all golems?!"
"I thought they were like insects before? Or something?" Alitheus asked, visibly perplexed by the situation.
"But we killed all of them, so naturally, the King had to create golems to compensate. That doesn't make them any less deadly," Vlad said. "And… yeah, there it is."
Ding!
[The City of Elderbridge has successfully triggered the [World-Wide Event]: {Awakening of the Ancient King of Neburias: Part 2}!]
[The Ancient King of the Fallen Kingdom of Neburias has awakened from his slumber. His Ancient Kingdom of Underground-Dwelling Demons seeks to reclaim the surface as their own. After being defeated by the Vampire Emperor three hundred thousand years ago and sealed away, he desires nothing but the fall of the Empire of Iron Blood against his Black-Armored Army!]
[However, he was temporarily stopped before, crushed under his own mountain while the rest of his army of Underground-Dwelling Demons died at the hands of the Vampire Prince Vlad, his family, friends, and allies.]
[Now, having finally crawled back to the surface, the furious Ancient King craves nothing but revenge! Although there are no more Neburians for him to command, he has created a powerful Army of Neburian Golems imbued with the souls of his soldiers, marching toward Elderbridge at their fastest speed.]
[Unlike the previous Raid, where he commanded several raids every day, the King is now coming in person, atop his strongest mountain-sized Golem! This will be a one-time event culminating in a single, gigantic battle! Be prepared to fight monsters harder than anything you've ever faced. The King will aim mostly for Prince Vlad's life or those of his family members.]
[To complete this Raid Event, you must not only survive but also defeat the King of the Ancient Kingdom of Neburias, vanquishing his Army in the process and ending their legacy once and for all. The King of the Ancient Kingdom of Neburias is a powerful World-Wide Event Raid Boss with an immense amount of Health and very high Stats, which cannot be taken down individually. A large army of Players must be assembled to confront him!]
[The Raid has no time limit and will persist as long as the King remains alive. His relentless desire for revenge will not cease until he brings doom to all. If Elderbridge is destroyed, the King will move on to the next city, ultimately stomping everything in his path until reaching the Capital of the Iron Blood Empire.]
[Raid Points will be granted based on killing the giant golems and damage dealt against the World-Wide Event Raid Boss, the {Ancient King of the Neburias Kingdom: Ezekiel (Tier 8)}!]
"He's fucking Tier 8?! Are you kidding me?!" Chris screamed.
"He's too strong!" Ermelinda said.
"Hmm, indeed…" Teressa gasped. "He's… how can we even fight that monster? Even with all our forces…"
"How? We use the terrain to our advantage," Vlad said, his words resonating with conviction and stirring the hearts of those around him. "I haven't been teaching you all Geomancy for nothing."
While doing many other things, Vlad had made sure to teach Alchemy and Geomancy to his mother, sister, Chris, Ermelinda, and others.
How?
Well, he didn't quite teach them directly. Instead, he showed them magic circles and crafted accessories containing them.
Whether they knew the basics or not was irrelevant; as long as they understood how the spell worked, these accessories would enable them to wield similar magic.
Although it could never really reach his level of mastery, he needed their help for this entire thing to work.
"You mean the bracelets you've gifted to us, Your Majesty?" Mother Scarlet wondered, raising her arm to point at the large bracelet around her wrist. "I have never conjured Alchemy before… Is this really going to work?"
"It has to," Vlad said, closing his eyes and sighing before opening them again with resolve. "Or else, even if we can survive and run away, the entire city will be demolished."
"The walls you've created are much stronger and can hold back for a while, I'm sure of that, my son," Teressa said. "But… can Geomancy do it? Even when I'm proud of my strength… to fight that King and his giant… And he's even of a Tier much higher than any of us…"
Teressa sighed. Her Blood Core was at the beginning stages of Tier 7 after she had fully recovered her strength.
But the difference between Tiers became bigger the higher they were. A Tier 7 could never easily compare to a Tier 8, and although Teressa was strong, the Ancient King of Neburias, Ezekiel, was a Raid Boss with naturally increased stats and elevated endurance.
"I know, he'll be the hardest thing to deal with, and his giant stone dragon thing," Vlad said, rubbing his chin. "However, it won't be impossible either. We have several powerful fighters with us, me included, and we have both the skills, magic, and abilities to make this worth it. Our first trump card is her, of course."
Vlad glanced at Insecta, who smiled at her master with a gentle expression.
"Master, I am ready at any moment. Simply give me the order," she said. "And I shall tear apart whatever is in my path."
"Calm down," Vlad said. "This is just starting… Your first order is defending the perimeter with the Crimson Blood Beetles, understood? Your very presence makes them stronger, Insecta. So keep them relatively close to you. We will also continue making them multiply as we feed them the corpses of monsters I have accumulated. Whether we can maintain so many as soldiers is not important right now; the only thing that matters is surviving."
RUMBLE!
As they discussed, the ground trembled as the King's army drew closer, only a kilometer from reaching the walls of Elderbridge. His army was noticeably smaller than the first wave, and they were all golems, presenting weaknesses Vlad could exploit.
"Your Majesty, the enemy's king is approaching!" a Goblin Scout shouted, running to Vlad. "And it seems he's preparing something! We've seen him conjuring magic—magic circles surround him…! I believe he's a master of Earth and Soul Magic!"
"That's a damned unexpected talent that the bastard got out of nowhere, huh?" Chris wondered. "But it makes sense. Aside from the weird bugs he controlled, there were all those supporting golems… Now it makes sense where they came from. Hey, Argentia! You ready to fight?"
Chris flew into the skies, calling his strongest Tamed Monster, a giant silver-scaled dragon, the Moonlight Venom Dragon Argentia. Formerly a Venomous Swamp Dragon controlled by a warlock barbarian, Argentia now possessed immense power upon his evolution after he accepted being tamed by Chris, as the Silver Moon Goddess granted him a blessing and a special evolution.
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