Dungeon Core Online 179 Chapter 179

"Fall back." James heard the words, and they broke through the fog that was once again clouding over his mind. He shook his head, trying to focus, but was finding it hard to do. Everything had been going to plan. The Candied King had been blinded, Gno-more had been doing a good job of killing off all the low players at the Avatar's feet, and The Knights, who had been holding their own against the higher leveled SoulDemon, had begun to turn the tide in the fight when James had brought the rest of the Boss Slayers to their aid. Everything had been going in their favor.
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But then, suddenly, Monty Python's health had taken a massive hit. A second later, another chunk of his life dropped. Then, another, and another. Lightning fast, Monty Python's health was cut down, and the massive Plaython disappeared. Even before James could register that, he heard a terrible, fearsome roar from Rue. His focus turned to her just in time to see her swinger her might axe down, rage apparent on her face. The attack was so fast, so violent, that it forced The Candied Queen to raise her shield to block. The candied shield shattered, but it did its job, and absorbed the blow.

The Candied Queen's glowing candy cane Xiphos responded to Rue's attack with lightning fast set of attacks. The weapon glowed with a crimson light, and for every strike, it seemed as if shadowy figures, dressed in Spartan Armor, appeared behind The Candied Queen, stabbing into Rue with faintly glowing spears of their own. Rue roared against the attacks, and lunged towards the Candied Queen, her mouth open, fangs reaching for the enemy's throat. Just before she reached though, her health hit 0, and her Avatar faded from existence.

The White Beast of Chaos has been Slain.

Popped up as a notification on James screen, and he pushed it aside instantly. He could feel rage welling up within him. BLANK had just killed Rue. He was going to make those bastards pay. His vision began to blur as he took a step towards the two enemy Avatars, his emotions taking over. The Candied King, his vision returned from Gno-More's blinding skill, shot James a grin even as he motioned for his forces to retreat.

"We Never Lose." He shot back, before he turned and began running away. The Candied Queen mimicked his hasty retreat, and James watched as many of BLANKs remaining mob forces turned back to retreat as well. Their players fared less well as they began their retreat, as running from a bunch of enemy players, especially in a wooded environment with enemies all around you, was quite difficult.

Needless to say, the more agile classes were able to get away, as were those who had skills to slow enemies around them, those who could increase their move speed, or those with cooldowns that let them survive their fleeing.

"Don't." Rue's voice stopped James even as he began to pursue the fleeing BLANK. Already James could see groups of his players rushing excitedly after BLANKs forces, launching any and every type of attack they could. Roguish classes burned cooldowns they had been saving to catch any stragglers, and James suddenly realized, as BLANK ran away, the danger of chasing them. During the war, there had been an extremely long period of time that BLANK and their forces had been deep in James's territory. Meaning James and his players no longer knew what existed in the distance, what existed down the path BLANK was running.

The startled cries alerted James, and his players, as to what had happened. Sure, BLANK had fled, and those who couldn't escape had been killed. But at the same time, BLANK, with the aid of their mobs, and some of their players, had set up traps. Chasing after them as they retreated was resulting in James's players getting killed by ambush style mobs and player packs. To chase after them further, would just increase their casualties.

"Regroup." James called out, looking up at Rue as he did. The pixie was back to her normal size and appearance, though she was still clad in her pixie battle armor. She had a plastic bottle in her hands, and she raised it up towards her mouth and squeezed. The liquid that flowed into her mouth was blue, and James figured she was drinking some sort of electrolyte drink. Something that was rather stereotypical for fight movies and scenes.

"Seriously, that Spartan class is dangerous." She said after she took a long swallow, her eyes lingering on the fading image of The Candied Queen. "That cooldown was complete and utter bullshit."

"I told you to be careful." James whispered to Rue. His emotions had calmed at seeing her and hearing her voice. When she had died, his mind had simply blanked. For a moment, he thought he had lost her. He had completely forgotten this was a game, and that she would come back. He shivered as the feelings resurfaced for a moment. With them, his resolve to win doubled.

"Yeah, well." She pointed a finger accusingly at him. "Maybe you should have done a better job keeping Monty alive."

"Hey now, you know you could actually help the healer by not taking damage." James was well aware of all the players around him cleaning up any enemy forces, and going about respawning players they could. Many of them were glancing at each other, and then up towards James with concerned looks on their faces. He didn't blame them, he was currently staring up at the sky and holding a conversation.

"How about I help the healer next time by killing the enemy faster, so they can't hurt me?" Rue offered up, flashing a smile as she took another drink. She was acting carefree, but James could see the fires burning in her eyes. She was pissed that she had lost.

"Sounds like a plan." James looked back across the battlefield. The forest was filled with large craters, burning, broken, and shattered trees, and a lot of flickering orbs from both sides. James wasn't sure what the numbers were, but whatever they were, there had to have been a large number of casualties on both sides. Which meant both sides had just gained even more essence to pump back into the war.

James didn't know when BLANK and their forces would return. He also didn't care. A full-on war on the battlefield like that wouldn't make sense to continue. Exodia from Grandma Jenkins had helped turn the tide, but that just meant she was likely going to be targeted early on if they clashed again. Plus, the next time, depending on how quickly another attack was launched, would see them engaging without Rue, without either of their world bosses, and just with Grandma Jenkins. As Old Man Jenkins had fallen in the battle. BLANK, on the other hand, didn't have any of their bosses left, but they had a 1st floor world boss still, and both their Avatars.

He didn't like the idea of a clash like that. From a pure numbers standpoint, he would lose. From a level standpoint, he would lose, considering BLANKs Avatars had a level of research on him, which meant they also had another multiclass buff. Which meant, James was going to need to figure out how to tip the tide of battle into his favor. First though, he needed to do something to help boost the energy and moral of his forces. His players were tired, he was tired. They needed to rest, regroup, and prepare for something that could take BLANK by surprise, and bring them down. Even more than that, they needed to avenge Rue, and bring down one of, if not both of, BLANKs Avatars. And, most important of all, he and his players needed the experience from this. Because while everything that happened on this day was important, James knew the most important part of the battle was yet to come. For it was truly on Day 5 that he needed his players to overwhelm BLANK, and bring him victory.

That thought helped push some of the drowsiness from his mind, and he felt a little more energized as he began making his way back towards the respawn area. Day three was not the important fight. It was the time for him to test out plans. The time for him, and all of his players, to get used to what it would be like in Dungeon Wars. It was the time for random, crazy shenanigans. And if there was one thing he was good at, it was exactly that.

Chapter end