Child of Destiny

...

Boom!

As the siege of the city grew more intense, the players defending the walls had started to feel more pressure, especially when the larger number of demonic creatures seemed endless.

Regardless, the pressure they were enduring was only growing stronger with each passing second. Adding that they were also getting mentally exhausted, their resistance had begun to slip, creating more openings in their defenses.

Bang!

Roar! Roar! Roar!

"Commander Alucard, we have a breach in Section 3!"

After a while, a huge opening appeared on one of the important sections of their defenses, letting more of the climbing demonic creatures rush toward it.

Alucard, who was already assisting in the battle with his unique blood arts and marksmanship, immediately responded. "Fill the gap with our warriors and send one of the knight units to stabilize the surrounding area!"

"Priest, purify the bodies of the fallen so that they will not be corrupted and turn into another demonic creature to add to their numbers!"

The situation was incredibly hectic, especially when more demonic creatures were joining the battle. Everyone knew that their numbers would not be enough to handle the current situation.

Even Diablo, who was supposed to be hunting the demonic players hiding among the demonic creatures, was forced to join the defense along with the people from Deicide and Hand of Midas.

"When will the NPCs of the city make their move?"

Someone had asked this question, which was something everyone was thinking about.

Up until now, the players were the only ones defending the city walls along with some of the NPC guards stationed there. Unfortunately, even if they were decently powerful, their ranks and combat prowess were not enough to suppress this army of demonic creatures.

Diablo, who was quite familiar with the methods of the Demonic Churches, could not help but frown deeply when he heard about this.

He knew that this was not the only force that the Demonic Churches had brought, especially with such a massive operation. He knew that there should be some NPCs from their forces as well, especially those at the Demonic Bishop ranks.

"Tsk! If the NPCs from our side have made their move first, then they will be prone to ambush!" he mumbled, realizing the gravity of the current situation.

Some of the players were also starting to waver, especially when their situation was getting dire. Even if this had already triggered a series of special events from the system and would grant them massive rewards, the consequences would surely be dire as well.

Some of these players had also received a personal message from their in-game friends who had fallen in battle.

Even though they had earned themselves quite a decent amount of merits from both the Righteous Churches and the Oath City itself, their losses were not that small either.

The players, who had been corrupted after being killed by demonic creatures, had their bodies corrupted and turned into demonified soldiers.

Those who had fallen victim to this had not only lost 10 of their levels and dropped a couple of pieces of equipment. The system had also informed them that they had lost some of their stats permanently, which greatly hurt their progress within the game.

Moreover, since no one had revived them, they would also be banned from re-logging in the game for an entire day.

These were just the common situations, which were also quite normal for the current patch of the game. However, the level loss was indeed much harsher when compared to when the players were normally fighting a demonic player. It was even slightly harsher than those who had died in the ongoing war at the Dark Cloud Kingdom.

Given the pros and cons, quite a lot of these experts were starting to think of running away. Unfortunately, the current situation would not let them slip away. They had no choice but to hold on.

However, this had also affected the morale of everyone, which was rapidly spreading throughout the battlefield like a plague and greatly affecting their overall performance.

The leaders, who were responsible for commanding their troops from each side of the city walls, immediately noticed this as well and instantly recognized the direness of their current situation.

They had to find a way to cure this plague before the situation became even more dire and reached the point where it would be beyond salvageable.

Boom!

As if to answer their prayers, the gates of the Mayor's Residence had finally swung open. The marching forces of the NPC Army had also revealed themselves. Even if their number was still quite small, their levels were at least quite decent to save everyone from their predicament.

The morale of everyone immediately rose, reigniting the fire in their hearts that was about to extinguish.

However, not everyone was feeling like this.

The leaders from each side of the city walls knew that this was not a good sign. Since their side was forced to reveal their NPC Force first, then the opposing side would surely have more leeway when it came to their responses later.

If there was some saving grace about this, then it must be because the most powerful NPCs of the Oath City – the King of the Lesser Kingdom of Juron and his brother, who was the Mayor of the Oath City itself, were still not present.

"Destroy these filthy demons!!!"

"Protect our home! Protect our family! Protect our people!"

The leading general of the City Guards of the Oath City led the others to fight against the demonic forces. Upon their appearance, they immediately launched a counterattack, slaughtering dozens of demonic creatures in a single collision.

This NPC General was quite powerful, especially when it had directly killed one of the most powerful demonic creatures on the battlefield, which was also the one responsible for producing more demonic creatures.

With this demonic boss out of the picture, the supposedly endless horde of demonic creatures had greatly lessened.

This NPC General had also killed two of the flying demons in the sky, lessening the burden of marksmen and mages firing at them and the priests that were being threatened to be dragged into the sky.

After this NPC General had shown his might, the morale of everyone throughout the battlefield was further re-ignited!

They had picked up their weapons and started fighting the horde of demonic creatures once again, but with a much stronger momentum.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The different skills flew out one after another, destroying all the demonic creatures that were blocking their way, while the multiple spells from the mages had painted the battlefield with different colors.

The counterattack had finally started!

…

In the meantime, hiding a bit far from the city, the demonic players and their demonic NPCs were currently gathered and calmly watching the entire battle.

"We may have forced them to reveal their NPC forces, but our main targets are still currently missing," said Agata while watching the ongoing battle. "The King and the Mayor are still not present."

"Their Royal Guards as well," added Henrick while squinting his eyes.

"Should we proceed with the original plan? Following the timing that Master had told us?" asked Agata while turning to her partner.

Even though their authority was somewhat on the same level, it was still Henrick who was assigned to call the shots when it came to these situations.

"We can't trigger the system announcement too early," Henrick frowned, realizing that the situation was getting a bit tricky. "These NPCs may be strong, but they are not that important or impactful for the current situation."

"If the system is triggered, the NPC forces from the Righteous Faction will reach this place within an hour or two at most. The Oath City will not have that much trouble holding out for that long given that they have a pair of decently powerful NPCs guarding it."

"Launching an ambush on them while they are still unaware of our full power is still our best course of action."

"We will stick to the plan to catch them off guard to deal the maximum damage that we can deal on their forces. Once we have dealt with their strongest force, their morale will take serious damage, which will surely be much bigger than the previous one," he added, coming up with this decision.

Hearing these orders, Agata and the others just shrugged their shoulders, following the original arrangements.

He then turned to one of the demonic players on his side and asked. "How is the situation at the main altar?"

That person frowned his brows a little before replying. "The Big Boss is guarding that place, so nothing should happen there."

However, despite hearing such a reassurance, Henrick could not help but frown quite deeply. He was unable to shake off the uncomfortable feeling that he had been getting since the start of the battle.

He could feel that something was wrong after seeing Alucard leading one of the city walls.

"The guy who is supposedly chasing after Leviathan suddenly appearing is not normal. I am pretty sure that something has happened from that side that we are unaware of."

...