Fighting back

[Death Ray]

In his mage battle form, Dreidus activated his skill while still underground. He aimed for Vellen, the old Diviner, allowing the Armadillo to take care of the Shaman of the Black Vulture Tribe.

The fifteen Defacers jumped and attacked the three Shamans, aiming for the vital parts of their body. They held small shiny daggers in their half decomposed hands.

The Platinum Armadillo activated its battle form. It became larger and stood on its two feet. The entire protective shell around its body was covered in long shiny spikes. After receiving Five's command, it jumped while simultaneously spinning on itself, turning into a living cannonball covered with spikes.

It mercilessly pierced the Shaman's bone cloak as blood splattered everywhere. The Spiked Armadillos pulled out their claws and attacked together with the Defacers.

The Shamans were taken by surprise and did not have time to react. Joyah had the best reaction of the three but when he tried to cast a defensive spell, he failed. The effect of [Dark Pull] came into effect. It bought the monsters a full second before the Shamans would be able to react.

Aside from Joyah, the two Shamans had 450 HP. They did not invest heavily in Vitality but they received several bonuses from their professions and consumed a lot of useful potions.

A Defacer's well-positioned attack could deal up to 40 damage after taking into consideration the Shamans' equipment but most of the time, it would deal around 30 damage per hit. The Spiked Armadillo dealt less damage due to their defensive nature but within the one-second frame they had, the monsters collectively dealt about 280 damage to each Shaman.

Dreidus' [Death Ray] exploded on Vellen but did not deal any damage. The energy of the [Death Ray] was all absorbed by Vellen's protective talisman. He was a Diviner but although he could see the future, he became paranoid about his own safety. Vellen specialized in defense and compared to the others who took the full blow of the sneak attack, all the protective talismans he had were activated.

However, without Vellen controlling the talismans, they only managed to block Dreidus' attack, all the other monsters managed to severely injure the Diviner.

Vellen and Joyah both reacted when they regained their powers and pushed back the monsters using [Protective Halo]. They were still blinded and did not know what attacked them but within the [Protective Halo], they were safe.

On the other hand, the Shaman of the Black Vulture Tribe died immediately as the monsters attacked him a second time. With the Platinum Armadillo drilling its spikes within his old body, the Shaman's HP dropped so quickly that he did not have time to react.

"Vellen! Are you alright?" shouted Joyah as he regained his senses. He did not attack yet as he knew the old Diviner was right next to him; he did not want to inadvertently harm the diviner.

"I'm fine. Who dares attack the Vicious Rhino Tribe!" exclaimed Vellen. He was both angered and frustrated to not have been able to predict this attack. His expression changed. He felt a dark ghastly energy pierce through his [Protective Halo]. Only someone more powerful than him could do something like that!

"Be careful Joyah! They got through my halo!" At the same time, Vellen felt a hand wrapping around his throat. He was still blinded and did not know how to react. Being suddenly thrown into total darkness would disorient anyone. It was twice as effective on a Diviner who was always used to knowing what would happen. His senses became dull as he no longer needed to react to unexpected situations but this was precisely what led to his doom.

As soon as Dreidus broke the Shaman's protection, the Defacers and Spiked Armadillos all went wild and slaughtered the old man.

Only Joyah was left. He was injured but had already recovered by using his spells in this short period of time. Unfortunately, the three seconds effect of [Dark Pull] was already over and the Shaman recovered its vision.

When he looked around him, Joyah saw several Undead monsters and a few armadillos threateningly staring at him. "D*mn! The monsters of the dungeon!"

Then, he noticed the corpses of his two fellow Shamans. Joyah trembled. "You dare! You killed Vellen!"

[Mortal Coil]

Before Joyah could attack the monsters, a powerful energy in the form of a skull exploded on his [Protective Halo]. The halo blocked the entire attack but when the skull exploded, it released black fumes obscuring Joyah's vision.

Joyah cursed, using [Breeze] to blow away the black fumes but as he was once again able to see, he saw the figure of the lich jump down a hole in front of him. "You! Where do you think you are going?"

But Dreidus ignored the Shaman and disappeared into the tunnel. The Defacers and Armadillos had already retreated. They did not dare face Joyah in his current state. He was way too powerful; after the effect of surprise had vanished, they would no longer be able to harm him in any way.

It was Five's plan. He did not send the monsters to their death. Having already taken down two Shamans, the three Shamans of the Musclewood Tribe should now be perfectly able to deal with Joyah. They were on their home turf and benefitted from the effects of their arrays.

Joyah wanted to attack but at that moment, a loud roar sounded behind him. He panicked! He immediately recognized the roar: it was the roar of panic of the Three-Horned Rhinoceros.

The Shaman saw the totem spirit of his tribe slowly disappear! But something felt wrong; despite the suppression of the other totem spirits, the Three-Horned Rhinoceros has clearly not been defeated yet. Something else was causing it to disappear.

'The relic!' exclaimed Joyah. He quickly realized that with the death of Joyah, the relic was no longer active.

Without the totem spirit, Joyah knew the three opposing totem spirits would soon turn their attention to him. He jumped onto Vellen's corpses and hurriedly searched his pockets but failed to find the relic!

'Where is it? Where is it!' He panicked and did not care anymore. He tore Vellen's clothes, revealing the poor Shaman's ugly member but still failed to find the relic.

The entire battlefield had their eyes fixed on the Three-Horned Rhinoceros. The beast tried to resist the pulling force of its relic. Unfortunately, it was unable to maintain its projection for long; it completely disappeared under the eyes of the barbarians.

The barbarians of the Vicious Rhino Tribe and the Black Vulture Tribe panicked! Without the totem spirit, who knew what would happen to them. They looked at the Shamans only to see that out of the three, only Joyah was still alive.

The latter was sweating profusely. He could feel the feeling of despair slowly taking over him as he continued to tear apart Vellen's clothes. At that moment, he saw two shadows covering his own.

Two harpy queens were staring at him threateningly.

While Harriet did not dare to face a totem spirit alone, she had a different opinion of the Shaman. Despite being doped by its totem spirit's energy, Joyah was only level 45, twelve levels below her own.

With grief and remorse, Joyah lost consciousness. His head exploded as the two harpy queens simultaneously used [Compressed Air Bullet].

The death of the second Shaman of their tribe blew away all the hope the barbarians had. They did not give up despite facing the Musclewood Tribe at the front, the beasts and Undead monsters on the right, the Skyblazing Crow from above and the Mystic Wood Fox, the Giant King Crab and the Warthog from the left.

They fought desperately. Vans loudly shouted to motivate his tribesmen but then, his head was mercilessly cut off by the Skyblazing Crow.

Achi lowered his ax, cutting Luka in half. "This is what you get for speaking like that of my wife!"

The barbarians fell one after another until there were only a hundred left. The surviving barbarians all dropped their weapons, not daring to fight back. They completely surrendered.

While the Vicious Rhino Tribe and the Black Vulture Tribe had been continuing their assault against the Musclewood Tribe, the eight other tribes tactfully stood on the sideline. They did not want to be used by the Vicious Rhino Tribe.

Three tribes had already left to check on their village, namely the Blue Eagle Tribe, the Brown Bat Tribe and the Pronghorn Tribe whose villages were the closest to the Bramble Deer Tribe.

The five remaining tribes did not participate in the battle and even after the Musclewood tribe's victory, they did not attack. They could see the Musclewood Tribe was in terrible shape but they did not dare to attack. They knew their chances of winning were slim. The dungeon was protecting them; not only was there a terrifying Harpy Queen flying above their head, but there was also an underground threat.

Achi, Wesh and Ganya regrouped. They were all covered in bruises but they nevertheless stood proud in front of their men. They looked at the remaining barbarian army and waited for their move.

After a few moments, the leader of the Gopher Tribe finally made his move. "Let's leave. We have nothing to do here. We have been defeated. As long as the Musclewood Tribe does not pursue this matter, we will leave at once."

Seeing the Gopher Tribe's move, the other leaders put forward a similar proposition. As long as the Musclewood Tribe swore an oath to not attack them, they would leave immediately.

Achi was enraged. They were the one that declared war and now, he was not even allowed to do the same. Nevertheless, he knew fighting another battle would be disastrous to the Musclewood Tribe. They have already lost half of their warriors; any more losses and they would be downgraded back to a medium tribe.

He briefly consulted the exhausted Shamans and finally swore the oath. The two sides did not want to fight each other to death. The incident that would be marked in the Musclewood Tribe's history came to an end. The totem spirits disappeared and Harriet swiftly flew back toward the forest. Out of all those who actively participated in this battle, she seemed to be the only one unharmed.

The Shamans wanted to stop her but the harpy queen disappeared before they could utter a word.

...

"Five! Dreidus! Is everything alright?"

Harriet swiftly landed where all the beasts and Undead Monsters were converging. She saw Five and Dreidus emerging out of a tunnel.

"We are fine. You did well, Harriet. Taking out that totem spirit was key to the Musclewood Tribe's victory."

Harriet gently smiled. "I have a suggestion to make."

"What is it?"

"May I get the permission to attack the dungeon of the Bramble Deer Tribe?"

Five froze. Of all the things she could ask, Five would have never expected her to make this request. Wasn't she tired from this fight?

Seeing Five's expression, Harriet said: "Let me explain. The Flame Commander was the dungeon's strongest monster. With it gone for 24 hours, we have a window where the dungeon is very weak. Imagine what would be the difference in our dungeon if I was absent or if Dreidus was. Furthermore, the dungeon also lost 30 Flame Riders. It has an army of Fire Golem nearby far away from the dungeon. And finally, as you have heard, the dungeon is helping the Bramble Deer Tribe to attack the other villages!"

Five's eyes lit up as Harriet continued: "It means even more monsters away from the dungeon! Right now, it is at its weakest. I do not want to miss the opportunity. Also, I want him to pay! How dare he send all these barbarians to attack our dungeon!"

Five could not find any flaws in her statement. "Dreidus. What do you think?"

The lich nodded. "Harriet is right but we'll need to act fast! If she goes alone, it will take her under an hour to reach the dungeon but I do not travel as quickly."

"It is fine! I alone am enough. At worst, I will just slaughter the majority of his monsters. As long as I can inflict some losses to that dungeon, it would be worth it!" said Harriet.

Five could see Harriet's frustration. She just wanted to vent herself on the other dungeon. "Fine. Go for it then. But be careful. If there are any signs of danger, do not hesitate and retreat. Do not be like that stupid Flame Commander."

The Harpy Queen smiled evilly as she rubbed her hands in anticipation. "I'll be careful." She quickly flew away, disappearing from Five's view.

"As for us, I believe the barbarians should go to our dungeon soon to ask for their wives, children, and elders. Let's return to the dungeon," said Five.

"Wait a minute." Dreidus stopped Five as he turned toward the Platinum Armadillo. "Little fellow. Are you not going to show it?"

The Platinum Armadillo looked confused but as Dreidus intensified his stare, the little beast shook itself as six relics fell off the inside of its shell.

"I saw him take them from the Shamans' robe earlier. He was very fast. If I was not in my Battle Form, I would have missed it. He might be cowardly but when it comes to pickpocketing, I would say he is quite talented."

Five was surprised. He crouched and grabbed the relics as information windows appeared. To his surprise, three of them were the relics containing the totem spirits of three tribes!

He had been lamenting earlier about the monsters' fast retreat. He ordered Dreidus to prioritize their safety first and so, he believed Dreidus did not have time to collect the relics. But he never expected the Platinum Armadillo to have sneakily picked all the relics from the corpses.

"I don't know if I should praise you or punish you," said Five as he recalled that the armadillo did not show the relics by his own will.

At that moment, a female voice sounded in the distance. "Wait a minute!"

Dreidus and the other monsters frowned. They quickly surrounded Five to protect him as they turned toward the source of the voice.