Siege - 2

When they left the camp, they went deeper in the forest and were soon confronted with an ambush from an enormous pack of cats. Ever since, an increasing number of shadow then mountain cats attacked them. They had to fight to survive, they had to kill to live. They advanced during the continuous fights and advanced again. It is only when they kept pushing through and were below the 3 huge fir trees that they realized that not only were they ambushed and thus endangered, but that they were led to face where their enemies come from, deeper, behind this shadow camp.

Soon, things became dire. More and more rank 3 shadow cats were seen and even rank 4 attacked them. Each evolution was an enormous change in the quality and quantity of a monster's power. A large number of rank 3 and 4 was suffocating.

The hoplites facing forwards and the numerous close range classes surrounding the mages, the battle reached a turning point.

When left unhindered, the magic classes can devastate enemy formations, their constructions and whatever they were facing.

The magic caster felt that their already tight breathing room was reduced even more.

At this point, their victory lied on the magic classes' shoulders. They had to decimate the cats before the felines can breach their defense and kill them from the center outward.

Suddenly, 5 rank 4 shadow cats jumped over the warriors and ambushed the magic ent wielding light magic. She was about to be bitten, when suddenly Rea, Zephyr, Olivier, Baal and Ezyze jumped, blinked and accelerated to intercept the cats mid air. They landed inside the formation and had to take these powerful monsters as quickly as possible.

Suddenly, another rank 4 cat tried to ambush the same light magic wielder. The diamond hobgoblin put his own body as a shield to protect the light wielder, and created countless earth and diamond wall. The shadow cat almost effortlessly went through the shields and slashed the diamond hobgoblin, which took severe damages. The tough wooden human finally joined the fray, and helped by the langur caster, managed to take the cat down.

Like this, the battle continued for 2 more hours. With ambushes and waves of cat warriors, they never had any breathing room. They were at full power for 2 hours, after having fought for the whole day.

Eventually, more and more high goblins depleted their mana reserves and could now use their powers on a very limited basis.

The arsonist was the only one that literally kept frying everyone among the goblins. The magic wood humans were something else entirely. During the whole day, they never once diminished their firing rate. Their roots and leaves kept pumping ambient Mana and their vast reserves were continuously filled, before being emptied once again. They actually created wooden magic arrows for the different archer class that no longer had any.

Still, rank 3s and 4s were hard to kill and hard to dodge. At this rate, they will die. They were outsmarted by cats and will die during a moonless night.

Ezyze was in the middle of the formation and just killed a rank 4 shadow cat with the help of a nearby Aries warrior. Everything was heavy. His whole body ached. Even with lightened gravity mana, he felt that his body was 2 tons heavy. His axe slashes became sluggish, yet even more brutal. He still fired spatial spears, an improved version of spatial bolts.

Everyone was busy with their own enemy, when all of a sudden, a rank 4 shadow cat ambushed Ezyze. With blink on cooldown, magic already sent to help allies, he had no way to dodge the attack. He saw the claws and fangs approaching. He even smelled the putrid odor coming from the cat's bloodied mouth.

Boom!

-----

Purplish lightning filled the armored formation. Harma hammered violently the cat's head, drilling it in the ground. She followed by jumping on it, taking its head and smashing it repeatedly on the ground. She then kept smashing and punching its head, before its body slowly dissipated in the shadows. Almost all of them rank 4, the gorillas joined the fray. They attacked those around the formation.

Cheering, the warriors had their spirit lifted and found a new wind.

Harma grunted and dived headfirst into the cats' rank. With Thunder gorillas attacking, the surroundings exploded like fireworks under lightning mana.

Exhausted, they began a long and excruciating retreat towards the forward camp.

They were continuously ambushed and attacked by packs after packs of shadow and mountain cats.

When the first rays of light began to light up the sky, they arrived at the foot of their camp. There, they kept slashing and killing, until everyone was safe in the height of the camp. The gorillas were joined by the golden bees in fighting on the ground. When everyone of the faction made it to the top, the gorillas and bees finally retreated.

They were defeated, rooted even, but they were all alive. Countless hoplites had bites' and claws' marks and their armors mangled. Some shields even had holes. This defeat, they will remember. Still, their predicament didn't stop.

At the bottom of the camp and as far as they could see, countless shadow cats were present.

They were cut off from the world, besieged.

The 8 pregnant goblins had since given birth and rejoined the group to fight. 32 newborn rank 1 goblins were born. Besides one having a C rank Trait called weak presence, none of them had anything special. They were only weak creatures.

The exhausted archgoblins started meditating to increase their mana regeneration.

Tired, with few energy reserves, injured and sleep deprived, they were now besieged by countless cats. Moreover, they seem to have more and more reinforcements by the minute.

"We must think of a strategy! Warriors, man the edges of our camp. Mages and archers, be ready to start battering them. Scouts, lie ready to strike. Newborn goblins, grab some swords and be ready to defend yourselves! Nebuch and the bees, be ready to intercept enemies! Harma, you must act as a strategic force! Today, we must survive! For glory, for our family!"

Harma grunted.

"Father! Nebuch said, Harma says that she was worried to not see you coming to the camp last night and came to rescue you. She says that she didn't expect to face so much enemies and that they would be so much to kill. She says that you must think for the long run as the fight will be continuous for days, maybe weeks!

What does she suggest?"

She grunted once again.

"She says that we must take turns, fighting and resting. She says that while most of us are tired, the Human Ents seem capable to throw more magic. She says that the bees and gorillas will handle things here while the others sleep. The young goblins should fight and prove themselves useful. She adds that we can make things up while we fight.

Agreed. You heard Nebuch, we must rest."

The Magic wooden humans battered the cats with their magic. Bolts, balls, roots and various forms of mana of different attributes were raining down on the cats which started to sprint and climb the trees. The gorillas were in their elements in huge trees and intercepted the climbing cats. Strong, the 22 monkeys made quick work of the cats that they managed to catch.

The bee knights grew during their time with the gorillas. They all reached rank 2 days ago and with strong traits and innate potential, they became fearsome warriors, moreover their capacity to fly was hard to fight against. Their sharp lances and strong shields, coated with golden mana, were never pierced.

Nebuch was a fierce genius. He managed to create Thunder balls, which were black inside and golden on the edge, that eventually launched a thuderstrike below which was conducive for the thunder ball to crash and explode on the ground, releasing enhanced Thunder mana and shocking many enemies. He used his body well and punched and kicked around. His body, augmented with Mana, was strong, resilient and produced enormous damages. His tail was especially stunning. When stricking with it, the blow were similar to a kicks at full power. By reaching a rank 2 class, he could kill rank 3 monsters and even last some time against a rank 4.

-----

Ezyze woke up, after 4 hours of light sleep. He did not manage to sleep well and stayed alert. Still, with the boost in his stats, such sleep seemed to be more than enough and even a luxury in the battlefield.

He made quick count of the state of the battle and the state of the camp. 2 Newborn goblins died this night, leaving 30 Newborn goblins with shortswords. Even if he saw them only briefly, Ezyze felt the pain of losing people that had great potential. Someone that could one day protect the faction in his absence. He was sad for the goblin mothers who carried the babies even on the battlefield, to have them die in what should be a safe camp.

He was sad, but he couldn't allow for more of them to be killed.

Below him there were countless shadow and mountain cats.

He joined the Aries and high goblins. The Langurs were present as well.

"Listen everyone! The Aries, magic goblins, Langurs and myself will protect the camp! Harma and the Gorillas and Nebuch and the bees, retreat and rest! Magic wood humans, create barricades, reinforce the bridges and the camp in general. Be quick and have some rest! The hoplites are resting and will soon join us again!"

The Aries took up their positions. The woman berserker warrior became rank 4. She was now more powerful and could even kill rank 4 shadow cats on her own, without much difficulty.

The high goblins did not rank up but had plenty of mana reserves now. They did not use their flying capabilities yet. The archers were similarly restwd. High in the ground and far from enemies, they could harm and kill many.

Thus started the second day of the continuous siege.