Chapter 37 - GND

The battle for the Eternium deposit kept raging on for more than half an hour at this point due to the large amount of players wishing to kill off GND's forces as this particular Eternium deposit was the first untouched one to have been found by the players, since many other known deposits are either getting worked on by NPCs or NPCs are preparing to work on it.

This is why the guild who will eventually possess this first ever untouched deposit will ultimately have a large advantage in the early phase of the metagame.

F0rsaken savagely massacred the players that stood in his way while they were all being constantly bombarded by MasterAhn's cannon shots. His bluish white flame were shot everywhere, incinerating players along his path. Not only that, he is also a really good close-quarters combatant as he's a battle mage who uses a spear made out of his own flames.

The players did their best to quickly dispatch the man, but despite most Water Mages simultaneously fighting him, his firepower had been unstoppable, and now, the entire battlefield seemed like hell but with bluish white flames instead of the usual reddish flames.

"Vice Guild Master!" One of the GND members cried out. "Do you need help?" He asked as they weaved away from the incoming attacks and projectiles sent their way.

"No, just focus on your task."

"Roger that…" The player then quickly disappeared from F0rsaken's side.

After a while, the opposition seems to be thinning out. Although GND also lost quite some of their forces and they are forced into reviving in the last Green Zone they had visited. They are still winning regardless.

If they win this battle, they have to quickly fortify the area and have players actively defending it before they can then mine the Eternium deposit down below.

However, as they are about to win, a large orb made out of light descended slowly upon the battlefield.

"This…!" F0rsaken exclaimed. "No way, they'll be joining too?!" He frantically scanned the battlefield to look for the caster but can't find them at all. "Where's that woman?!"

He looked everywhere before the orb could make contact with the crowd but alas, he couldn't find that caster in time. As soon as the orb made contact onto the ground, it exploded, rejuvenating everybody in the radius back as it healed more than 30% of their lost health. Whether it's GND members or the other guilds' members, everybody was healed indiscriminately.

When F0rsaken finally managed to find the caster, he yelled at the top of his lungs with seething fury. "What the hell are you doing?! Queen!"

"Hehe…" YourQueen, who's most well-known just as 'Queen' laughed as she stood atop a tree branch some distance away from the battlefield. She wore a red, hooded robe with golden accent all over and a light orange Phoenix symbol on both front and back. "Are you mad?! Mister Vice Guild Master?!"

"You…!" F0rsaken quickly extended his arm forward and blasted her with a barrage of flame projectiles. ANGELA didn't move from her place, instead, she opened her embrace as a large bear rushed in front of her, tanking the barrage of attacks before disintegrating into nothingness.

"Shit... All of them are here?"

With everybody being healed back into a more favorable state, the battle is back to zero for GND, despite already culling almost 60% of the enemies, the remaining 40% are back to a state where they have a fighting chance, add to that the entrance of Phoenix Guild into the scene along with their members and higher ranking members.

Although [Tower of Eternity] is primarily supposed to be a narrative-driven PvE game, the devs know that PvP is still a huge part of its culture as it was the main focus in the Eternal World. So despite moving away from it some extent, they know PvP is still going to be one of the main activities in the sequel. Which is why despite adding limited revives of seven, it only gets deducted for the PvE content such as fighting NPCs, mobs, etc. For PvP however, as long as it was a player who killed them and dealt the majority of damage towards their death, no revival chance will be deducted. While being killed by a player while 90% of the damages on your health was dealt by an NPC or Mobs, then the reverse will be true.

This, alongside many other information was released months before the game's release in Dev Logs as to clarify how different the sequel will be from the previous game.

If GND is not able to fortify this area soon enough, the battle will be even more grim as the previously eliminated players most likely had revived by now and are sure making way back to the battlefield.

"Tsk," F0rsaken clicked his tongue, he then proceeds to coat his entire body with his flames, forming a blazing armor reminiscent of a full-plate armor. The shape of a horse formed below him, lifting him up and soon, he's riding a mount while wielding a spear that's also made out of his fire.

"What's wrong? F0rsaken? Are you scared that my guild will finally overthrow yours?" A man spoke as he exited the cover of the lush trees. Wearing the same kind of robe as Queen.

"You finally showed yourself. You bastard."

"Just yield the deposit to us, F0rsaken, you have no way to fight the combined might of us and the players over here."

"You sure?" F0rsaken smirked.

"Yeah..." The man spoke with indifference.

"Well… Is Isshin here?"

"He's taking care of your brother."

"Good." F0rsaken rushed toward atop his blazing mount at such a swift motion that the other person wasn't able to dodge in time F0rsaken's spear, burning bits of his robe to ashes.

"Sheesh, this is new, ya' know?!" He raised his hand slightly and a large wolf materialized head first, out of nowhere lunging at F0saken, which he managed to dodge rather easily.

Known as the 6th Ranked Player in Eternal World, Sanggano is a Summoner. The best one in the field at that. He is also a master tactician just like MasterAhn and the two of them had been rivals since Eternal World and during the creation of their respective guilds, both vying for the top spot ever since. Leaving in the dust anyone who dare touch upon their rivalry, which is why the guild that's widely regarded as the third strongest, is way too low compared to the two guilds in terms of power that they don't really have much relevance in the politics of the game and is only slightly more respected or feared compared to all other guilds.

"How the hell did you figure out on how to summon in this game…?"

"Oh, this? It's pretty simple, really. I just summon spirits and give them physical shells using my mana. It's quite troublesome learning how to access the spirit realm for a few hours… but worth it nonetheless."

"Tsk." F0rsaken threw his spear towards Sanggano but the same large bear materializes once again who tanked its unbearable heat, then disintegrating once again.

Reforming the same spear back into his hand, he charged forward with his steed. He hurled his spear towards Sanggano's head who had remained stationary and a dozen vines from underground shot forward to restrain him.

"Shit...!" He quickly increased the intensity of his flames and set them ablaze, breaking free before going for the kill.

Clang—!

A large turtle shell appeared between the two that deflected this blazing spear, briefly throwing F0saken out of balance.

Sanggano then quickly summoned a large snake who then bit half of F0saken's body sideways, completely restraining him and dispelling his mount. "Fuck!"

He tried upping the intensity of his flames but this snake is durable, he's unable to melt its mouth with his flames, which is one of the most powerful fire-based skills in the previous game. "He's buffing it…?"

The remaining mages who can use Water Magic alongside Sanggano himself who also have Perfect Mana Control then focused their attention focused towards F0rsaken.

Before they fired, a roar of thunder was heard. Due to the intense brightness it created and the loud noise it made which was heard from miles away, everybody present had focused their attention to whoever it came from.

"Was I late?" The person said with a calm expression.

"An NPC?!" Sanggano looked at F0rsaken with shock.

"Yeah, dumbass, you're fucked now."

"Tsk! Kill him." They then proceeded to blast F0rsaken with their combined might, Boom—! killing him instantly as his body laid there lifelessly.

"A guy asked me to defend this place for some time, I'll give all of you a chance to go. If you don't, I'll kill all of you. I''ll be counting down from ten."

A player arrived beside Sanggano and asked. "What do we do? Guild Master?"

"Let's retreat, that's the NPC who killed Ahn. I don't wanna lose a revival chance yet." Sanggano said with a stern expression.

"Are we not going to try fighting him? We have the numerical advantage anyway."

"Just send the low-tier members."

"Yes." The player disappeared to relay the message as Sanggano escaped.

"Who would have thought they had the means to call upon an NPC like that…"

Yun didn't bother killing anyone who tried escaping, but he made a quick work of anyone who didn't and are adamant on staying, mostly consisting of the previous players who had been here since the start and the low-tier members of Phoenix Guild.

Yun quickly proved his might by decimating every single opposition with a single stroke of his blade. His lightning filled the battlefield as he zips around at an unfathomable speed, his lightning burned every player into a crisp while his blade cut them down, in just a matter of seconds, he managed to slaughter every single enemy player in the area, littering the mountain side with corpses.