A New World, an immersive game experience

"Erik!" Nikki shouted, receiving a quick reply.

"I know." He said, focusing on his spells. While Nikki had moved to defend the group, Erik had healed the players in the worst condition and then started taking command of the surrounding plants.

He was no where near the level of Akarui, or the Alicorns. However, Erik was more than able to command plants.

Matching his senses with the surrounding flora, Erik quickly honed in on where the arrows were coming from. As expected, there were five. Shooting from the cover of darkness. Their skills creating funnels of wind for the arrows to fly through the forest without being knocked off course.

And, there used to be more there. The other enemies had already moved, but it didn't take Erik long to find them.

'Seems they are staying true to their tactic.' Erik noted. The group always moved in squads of five, normally a total of fifteen or twenty players.

'Next, they should be moving to reposition. Leaving behind shadows.' And indeed, they did. These arrows were capable of shooting illusionary arrows. A very complex spell was needed for this. Most likely, each squad had a special item to support their attacks.

'These arrows can't be ignored.' While they weren't real—unlike the arrows formed by the Elemental Quiver. The arrows still dealt damage. Albeit a fraction of what any real arrow would deal.

Yet, that meant they remained a threat. Thus, once the group had left, Erik quickly destroyed all the shadows.

At the same time, he had found the other two squads. A fourth he could not find. Though he couldn't guarantee there wasn't one.

"Nikki, I've got them."

"Alright, move out!" Nikki bellowed at the top of her voice.

The players under her command moving quickly. While they had the number advantage, their group wasn't in a good position for direct combat. After all, they normally acted as reinforcements for the others. Which was precisely why they had been targeted by the Midnight Strike Force.

To prevent themselves from being taken out by the more elite players, their group of 22 split into two groups. Nikki led one and Erik the other. They focused on the Midnight players who had just settled into their position.

Nikki's group used a spell of mirage type, hiding their advance. Though since none of the players specialized in optical illusions, the spells could easily be seen through.

That, however, didn't matter. It only needed to buy them a few seconds.

Erik's group, in contrast, didn't need to waste any mana on illusions. Erik instead started attacking their target with plants and distant wind magic. At this range, his spells weren't accurate, but they caused more than enough chaos for the group to reach their targets and overwhelm them with numbers.

By the time the other squads of the Midnight Strike Force realized what was going on, Erik's group had finished their task and were now tailing the other squad. Nikki's group was in a slightly more fierce fight.

—

"As expected," Therdul mumbled, looking at the messages and battle logs. They had purposefully left Nikki's group further behind. Luring the enemy to attack what was supposed to be the weakest group within Phoenix.

Erik, however, had been their hidden card. In all their matches before this one, he had only ever focused on healing. Never revealing his offensive strength.

This wasn't a purely strategic plan. Erik truly didn't enjoy fighting. While he had come to accept that sometimes he had to, he preferred healing and alchemy above combat. He was also far more specialized in those areas.

Still, that didn't mean he was weak. He had gotten a hidden class, after all. Just that achievement alone placed him in the top echelons of players. His personal tutelage under the Alicorns allowed him to progress far faster than any other player. Eldrian excluded.

"Luckily, they don't have any barrier devices," Zyviss murmured. Letting his arrow fly, his target dodging it with the bare minimum required movement.

"True, but they might have some other trump card. We can't let our guard down." Ilmadia said. Busy charging a mana crystal for a Nova. Which they planned to add to a runic-enforced ballista bolt.

Most important, though, was the mana crystal she was using as a large one. With it containing over 100k MP, it should kill an entire section of defending players in its explosion.

The castle walls, however... would likely survive. Whatever material they were made of, it was beyond players to destroy. At least that was the current consensus. after all, not even a focused volley of cannon fire could breach the walls.

"Don't talk." Judith snapped, watching the crystal in Ilmadia's hands with fear.

Due to the rarity and expensiveness (over 1000 gold) of large mana crystals, they hadn't been able to practice this attack. Worse, Ilmadia had only used small crystals before.

True, they had let her practice with three medium crystals (100 gold for one medium crystal) for today. But comparing 12k MP to over 100k just wasn't fair.

If Ilmadia lost her focus, everyone was nearby. Heck, everyone in several hundred meters, perhaps even kilometers, would die.

Thanks to Judith's worries, the rest decided to hold their silence while Ilmadia worked. However, soon they had to move to protect her and their siege equipment. Naturally, the Midnight Tea guild wasn't going to wait for them to prepare.

Their attack was certainly vicious, but with almost 60 players focused here, it wasn't really possible for Midnight Tea to defeat them while having sent their elite strike force at Nikki's group.

Still, they didn't need to defeat Phoenix here. They simply needed to cause Ilmadia's enchantment to fail. Though they only realized this when she was nearly done. 𝗯𝗲𝐝𝐧𝗼𝐯𝗲𝐥.𝗻𝗲𝐭

"Get her!" One of their elite players shouted, sending a weaker Phoenix member flying. Only to end up flying himself thanks to Judith's swift charge.

However, that shout had alerted the others. And some quick-witted players quickly shouted, "Send AOE spells."

"Any attack would do!"

"Disrupt her casting!"

They had seen enough videos of Phoenix's battle strategies to be well aware of the famous Nova spell. And given the size of the crystal she was using, they shuddered.

—

Meanwhile, the chat was going crazy. The fact that Phoenix was using a large mana crystal was just insane.

Players had come to expect this of the sponsored guilds. But Phoenix was independent.

Debates quickly started. Some argued it must be because of Eldrian. While others said that the guild had plenty of achievements and massive incomes thanks to their forts and all the guild quests they received.

The debate quickly took over the conversation but died when Ilmadia was injured.

Luckily, at that second Nikki appeared just in range. Riding on a vine above the trees. Erik behind her. Pale. He was just about out of mana. Had Elizabeth not told them of the urgency of the situation, they would never have rushed like this.

Nikki immediately summoned the Dome of Protection around Ilmadia. Preventing the following attacks from doing any damage. However, they quickly drained her mana. After all, she had even less than Erik. And she had already used a significant portion while fighting Midnight's strike force.