New Earth- The Dungeon of Madness 215 A long night 5

The ground trembled, filling the defenders with unease. Even the Undead were affected. They all observed their surroundings, looking for the source of the disturbance. Then, they all noticed the changes occurring around Venetia.

First, three massive watch towers were being erected right in front of the defenders' eyes. The watch towers magically rose from the ground and soon reached 25m. They then stabilised themselves, releasing a domineering aura.

Next, two bright lights flashed momentarily, one in the east side of the town and one in the south part. An invisible wave of energy flew from these two points, giving an indescribable feeling to the defenders. Only the members of the church and the temple understood what happened; the idol of their respective gods have been anchored and activated. The members of the religious bodies would all benefit from a boost in stats. While the non-believers did not become stronger, the aura emitted by the idols suppressed the Undead, reducing their strength.

Affected by the aura of the watch towers, the defenders felt renewed strength. The situation that was starting to look grim, improved ever so slightly. But these were not the only change. The Undead quickly realised the new aura suppressing their strength. Enraged, they charged at the defenders, aiming to destroy the newly erected watch towers. However, as they stepped forward, the ground underneath their feet suddenly gave in.

This took both sides by surprise. The heavy undead such as the Death Knights, triggered the traps and fell into the unexpected pit. Some crashed at the rocky bottom of the pit while others were skewered by the metal spears.

"Since when did we have traps hidden here?" Mars exclaimed. He was taken aback by the changes. Things were not going exactly as planned but he was not going to complain. The pitfalls did not kill the Undead, but it took them out of the battle for now. This lessened the burden on the defenders, giving more space for the defenders to fight.

'The mistress probably did something. She should have placed those traps earlier. It should have been quite costly…'

…

[Watch Tower (Grade 3)]

HP: 20000/20000

Cannon Slots available: 3

Marksman slots available: 10

Territory: Venetia

Special effects:

[Territorial Suppression]: Reduce all the stats of enemies attacking Venetia within a 500m range by 1

[Supportive Aura]: Increase all the stats of allies defending Venetia within a 500m range by 2

[Vantage Point]: Increase the range of all cannons and marksman located in the watch tower by 200m and 100m respectively.

"A grade 3 structure for 1 million DP. I suppose it is already pretty good." Iris bitterly smiled while staring at the information of the watch tower. The watch tower was indeed impressive, but it was not very robust. It only had 20000 HP. While it could easily take a few hits, in a war, it would not last for long. One hundred mages casting targeting their spells at the watch tower was enough to destroy it in one attack. In a war, this was not such an unlikely scenario.

Naturally, the watch tower could be upgraded. There were several options such as [fortification] that increased the tower's max HP or [Runic Barrier] that reduced the damaged taken by the tower. The watch tower that cost 1 million DP was only the most basic structure she could purchase. At the end of the day, a town was just a bottomless pit. The amount of resources needed to maintain a proper town was massive.

Iris returned to the mayor's office to make her purchases and set up the traps around Venetia. She did not dare take out the pseudo-dungeon core in front of the members of the church and the temple. Browsing through the interface was fine since players did it all the time but if they detected the energy coming out of the dungeon core, then her temporary allies might instantly turn into enemies.

"Mercy. Did you choose which item you want to redeem?" Iris asked. Her best friend, Mercy had already returned from the battle. She was exhausted but at the same time excited. She was going to have the opportunity to redeem a reward that usually only large guild would be able to.

"Not yet. The top weapons are starting to disappear though. I looked at the list. There is nothing that can really help you or Chris. Most items are equipment sets or consumables. It might be because the ability to own a town has not yet been released for general players. The two of us collected about 120 thousand of each drop. Will it be alright to just divide it in three?"

"Yes. I will ask Chris to send his drops in a minute. Looking at how much we got, we should have a look at the rewards costing around 200 thousand drops. Do they have a limited number available too?" asked Iris.

"Yes, but there are more than the top rewards. You can redeem them ten times at least."

"I think you should just go ahead and secure yourself an equipment set. As for me and Chris, can you look if there are any crafting recipes or blueprints. They might be the most useful items we can redeem."

Mercy nodded while quietly grumbling, "The game system is so stingy. It is designed for us normal people to only be able to get one good reward. Even top guilds will probably only be able to redeem one or two top tier rewards."

"What can we do? At least people won't just suddenly become overpowered for participating in one event."

"I suppose so. What kind of recipe do you have in mind? There are so many…"

…
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Outside, the battle continued to rage. Countless Undead fell one after another but the defenders also suffered some casualties. Despite the constant healing from the backline, thirty Lionmen, more than a hundred humans and a few Naiads lost their lives. The mercenary groups also had losses. Only the church and the temple managed to preserve all their members thanks to their perfect coordination and experience in dealing with Undead.

With the help of the watch towers, the pressure on the defenders had been significantly reduced. The battle went on as the pile of corpses kept growing.

Eventually, the fifth phase started as the sky turned scarlet. Even the moon was affected as it started turning purple. The fifth phase was the final phase of the Night of Macabre and at any time during that phase, the final boss monster would appear. But for now, only one new type of Undead joined the waves of Undead: the level 45 Possessor.

A Possessor was a spirit-type monster that had the ability to possess one's body. Naturally, it was much easier to control a body once the owner was dead which was why possessors were commonly regarded as being Undead monsters. Once the physical body could no longer be used, the possessors could easily leave the body and search for another. Alternatively, they could simply fight in spirit form.

The scariest part was not the possessor's level. Although they were at a higher level than the Lionmen, the latter still had weapons and armors that buffed them. The scariest part was the number of Undead. The Possessors brought the number of Undead per wave up to 2500. With one wave crashing onto each side of Venetia at regular interval, more than ten thousand Undead were emerging from the fog at once.

The defenders no longer had the level's advantage. The hardest part of the Night of Macabre had officially begun.

On the East side, Mars sighed as he grabbed his halberd. He took a brief ten-minute break to recover some stamina and drink a few potions. It was time for the last stretch. Everyone was exhausted at this point, but they simply could not give up.

Mars was about to charge forward but was stopped by the shouts coming from behind.

"Stop! Wait a minute!" A group of humans were rushing toward the battlefield. They were out of breath, carrying large crates with their tiny arms.

"What? What are those?" Mars paused for a moment.

"The mistress said to distribute these to all those fighting. They are Light Bombs. Essentially a one-time use weapon that emits a powerful light. Throw them at the enemy and they will detonate when hitting something hard. It should be especially effective against Undead."

"Light Bombs?" muttered Mars as he opened a crate and grabbed the small metallic sphere. Intrigued, he tossed the sphere in his large hairy hands.

'Are these really useful against Undead? If the mistress sent them, I suppose they are. The situation is about to change,' thought Mars with a grin. He turned his attention back to the wave of Undead emerging from the fog.

"Euhm… The mistress also said to use them sparsely. Because they are infused with light element, these bombs are quite expensive." The human quickly added as he watched Mars throwing the Light Bombs at the Undead without restrain.

Similar scenes were taking place on the different battlefields. With the help of the Light Bombs, the battle became much easier.

…

Iris once again appeared on top of the city wall to observe the battle. She was relieved to see the monsters being more relaxed than before. "All that is left now is to wait for the Boss Monster… Two more hours… We just need to hold for two hours."

At the bottom of the city wall, the players looked at her silhouette with worry and nervousness. They had yet to participate in the battle but even after just standing there, they were starting to feel tired.

"What should we do? It does not seem like we will have an opportunity any time soon. The guards are now using Light Bombs! They can easily hold off the Undead," exclaimed a panicked guild representative.

"I have eyes too. I can see they are using Light Bombs. This should not have happened. Each one of these Light Bombs is very expensive… How was she able to stock so many? Did she know about the Night of Macabre before hand too?" Excel muttered. Her mind was racing, looking for a solution. At this rate, it looked like she would have no choice but to join the battle and obediently kill the Undead to avoid paying the penalty.

The guild representatives glared at her. She was the one who came up with this plan but in the end, they were all making losses. "Excel! Explain yourself. Did you not say she would have difficulties surviving the Night of Macabre?"

"Shut up, you idiot. I am thinking. How was I supposed to know that she had such a large stock of Light Bombs? You can see very well that without these items, she would have had a much harsher time."

"Then, there's also the issue of the three watch towers suddenly appearing. It looks like the mayor indeed had a trump card. How did she build the watch towers in an instant? Did she use a premium blueprint?"

"So many questions left unanswered. For now, decide on the step to take. Do we all have to keep staying here? Or can we join the battle?"

The group cohesion was starting to fall apart. Excel could feel that many guild representatives simply wanted to leave the group and join the battle. They would then at least make up for the wasted time. But it was not something Excel could accept. She focused her attention on Iris once again, using [Battle's odds].

'Still the same. 0.001% chance of winning. That woman has so many hidden cards,' said Excel to herself. She took a deep breath and hardened her expression. "We will wait for the Boss Monster to appear. This is bound to leave some cracks in the defence."

"Can't we just attack right now? We don't need to attack the mayor herself. Why don't we eliminate the guards?"

"Because it will be pointless. Venetia clearly has many reserve troops lying in wait since the winning probability is so low."

They continued to argue until all the guild representatives returned to their respective guild members. They were all frustrated but could only silently endure and observe the battle.

…

Time went by and soon, what they had been waiting for happened. There was no special warning but thanks to their lookouts, the guilds were quickly informed of the situation. Eight red dots suddenly appeared in the middle of the fog on the West side.

The West side has always been the weakest side of Venetia. The waves of Undead attacking from the West had the tendency to be smaller and as a result, the defensive forces present there were also sparser. As soon as the abnormality was noticed, all the other sides hurriedly sent their forces to the West side, especially the church and the temple.

Four silhouettes emerged from the fog. On the surface, they looked just like any regular revenants; part of their flesh was missing but the corpses looked more or less intact. The red dots that stood out of the fog were their eyes. The only special detail about the four newcomers was the information the game interface was displaying.

The other revenants simply had "Level 36 Revenant" displayed above their name in red. But the four newcomers were all given special names. In other words, they were named monsters:

Level 60 Gareth Fitzerald

Level 55 Celine Lampott

Level 55 Dorian Vael

Level 55 Samuel Aguellac

Chapter end