Because he hadn't paid attention at the start of the fight, Shade was now completely lost, trying to make sense of the mess unfolding in the arena.
"Amélie… how did it come to this?" he asked the person standing next to him.
At the center of the coliseum stood two "armies" in a state that was anything but balanced. On one side, fewer than four thousand humans were still able to fight, their faces showing fear and anguish.
On the other, ten thousand soldiers from the Dark Elf Kingdom stood, unharmed.
"They were still hiding a few trump cards… The enemy general is the one from earlier, borrowing and amplifying his allies' energy. He's using the mana of over a thousand soldiers around him to wipe out every one of our troops. But under normal circumstances, that shouldn't have been enough to throw us off."
Kara's friend pointed toward the enemy commander. "The real issue is that guy. He's the one who completely shut down our assassination attempts and defensive lines…"
Shade focused on the figure Amélie had pointed out. A dark elf with refined features and a sophisticated look. Long white hair, emerald green eyes, slightly purplish skin, he stood tall, watching the humans die across the battlefield with a cold, arrogant gaze. But Shade ignored his appearance and focused on what mattered at the his abilities.
As he watched the humans struggling to avoid an Ace or a Flawless, he quickly picked up on the problem"Amélie had mentioned.
Every time a human assassin or mage began casting a powerful spell, something that could eliminate an enemy or save someone on the brink of death, a beam of light from the white-haired commander struck the caster and stopped their ability in its tracks.
"A silencing skill…" Shade murmured.
Amélie nodded. "He's interrupted tens of thousands of skills in just a few minutes. Any player hit by that effect can't use their abilities for a while. Buffs get canceled, stealth breaks, and both active and passive skills go straight out the window… Once someone's silenced, they're dead."
Powerless, Shade leaned forward in his seat, one hand on his temple, and kept watching the humans get slaughtered by the enemy legion.
Several times, Shade found himself hoping—just for a second—when a human burst out with unexpected power and managed to injure an enemy. But every time, the outcome was the same.
Every player who could've given the human side a shred of hope was picked off and eliminated.
Despite having the numbers, not a single dark elf broke formation or overextended. No one let their guard down. They stayed locked in from start to finish.
And after a few more minutes, the inevitable happened.
"Victory. Ace. Flawless for their legion… 10,000, 100,000, and 200,000 points… Fucking hell." Amélie cursed as Shade looked at the scoreboard.
As the general of the defeated legion approached, Shade looked up.
[Dark Elf Kingdom: 620,000 points]
[New World Kingdom: 148,000 points]
The man, an Irish player, dropped to one knee and spoke. "This is all my fault, Commander. If by some miracle you can pull us out of the mess I threw us into, I swear I'll give you my life and—"
Already irritated, Shade grew even more annoyed at the man's ramblings. "I don't want anyone to give me anything. Shut it and focus on the next battle."
Turning to the other generals and the dozens of colonels gathered around, he added, "Good thing everyone's here. It's time to focus on the buy phase and figure out what we can get with the points we've earned."
He opened the shop and shared the list of items available to their faction.
As the endless menu appeared before them, the generals immediately discussed their options.
Shade, meanwhile, was scanning the list in silence, his eyes locked on anything that could help protect his troops.
After a few minutes, Jérôme Figaro let out a long sigh and spoke up for the first time. "Raising your voice louder than your fellow officers won't make you more convincing—just more embarrassing in front of your soldiers. Show some restraint, ladies and gentlemen."
Amélie and another general, feeling targeted, went quiet at once.
Figaro continued, "You're all making one thing clear: without Commander Shade, we don't stand a chance. But the enemy's sitting on almost half a million more points than we are… Have you even stopped to imagine what they could afford with that kind of advantage?"
His words hung in the air for a few seconds. No one responded.
Then he laid out his proposal. "No matter what we buy, if they manage to take out the commander, we lose. That's why I suggest we hold off on buying anything for now—except for [Prying Eye] and [Second Guessing]. One shows us what the enemy picks. The other lets us react with counters after the buying phase ends."
Shade pulled up the descriptions for both items:
Shade nodded. "Agreed. The enemy's probably planning the same thing... Waiting until the last second to counter us. But I can move through the system interface faster than he can. He won't outpace me."
[Prying Eye]: Reveals the enemy's purchases in the War Shop.
Price: 3,000 points
[Second Guessing]: Allows access to the War Shop after the purchasing phase, enabling returns and adjustments on items.
Price: 2,000 points
Hint: Use before entering the battlefield, as it's ineffective mid-battle.
He added, "That doesn't mean we shouldn't go over every single purchase option right now. So I'll stay open to suggestions."
He browsed through the items again.
[War Supplies]
[White Flag]: Deploying the white flag means forfeiting the battle, granting the faction a 72-hour period to evacuate the territory.
Price: 1 point
Hint: Not buying this item grants the buff [Never Back Down].
[Never Back Down]
Description: A buff granted to all soldiers who refuse the option of retreat. It's either victory or death!
Effect: All player Power +50%
[Healing Aura]: Deploys a persistent field that heals all allied troops for 2% HP every 5 seconds, providing gradual recovery for minor injuries.
Price: 10,000 points
[Crowd Control Immunity]: Creates a field across the battlefield, granting all allied troops immunity to crowd control effects.
Price: 100,000 points
[Death Denial]: Any ally that dies on the battlefield is revived for 60 seconds with 30% health. If they manage to defeat an enemy, they can revive fully.
Price: 100,000 points
[Mana Waste]: Increases mana consumption by 200% for all enemies, making their abilities more costly.
Price: 30,000 points
[Reinforced Armor]: Increases all troops' physical defense by 20%, providing better protection against melee and projectile attacks.
Price: 5,000 points
[Elemental Armor]: Enhances all troops' elemental resistance by 30%, offering greater defense against elemental damage.
Price: 5,000 points
[Forest Jump]: Boosts all troops' endurance by 30%, allowing them to sustain combat for longer periods.
Price: 5,000 points
[Speed Buff]: Increases all troops' movement and attack speed by 50%, enhancing their agility in battle.
Price: 5,000 points
[Suppression]: Lowers the level of all enemies by one upon entering the battlefield.
Price: 3,000 points (Stock: 5)
[Revival Token]: Allows the player to reappear at any Adventurer's Guild within faction territory for revival upon death.
Price: 100 points
[Damage Immunity Token]: Grants immunity to damage for one minute, during which the player cannot deal damage.
Price: 100 points (Stock: 100)
Hint: Any abilities involving reflection, damage transfer, or damage-taking for others are nullified during this period.
[Crowd Control Immunity Token]: Grants immunity to crowd control effects for one minute.
Price: 100 points (Stock: 100)
[Level Up Token]: Temporarily boosts the player to the next level for the duration of the battle.
Price: 100 points (Stock: 100)
Hint: Effective only up to level 130.
[Speed Token]: Provides a 50% increase in movement and attack speed for three minutes.
Price: 100 points (Stock: 100)
Shade remembered all these items, and knew the impact of each token, buff or debuff and thought, 'The options they have with 620,000 points are terrifying…'
"Some of the buffs have evolved… [Never Back Down] now grants a 50% power increase to a faction that doesn't buy the white flag," he noted.
As his eyes landed on an item he didn't remember seeing in the past, cold sweat appeared on his back.
[Ban Hammer]
Description: Temporarily prevents a chosen enemy player from participating in the war. The targeted player is forcibly removed from the battlefield and blocked from re-entering for 30 seconds.
Effect: Must be activated before the battle starts. Affected targets are unable to interact with the war interface, battlefield, or allies during the ban duration.
Restrictions: A player can only be targeted once. (Stock: 5)
Price: 100,000 points
"This is complete bullshit… How am I supposed to prevent casualties when something like that is even available for purchase?" Shade could feel the noose tightening, the odds of taking serious damage rising fast.
While the generals around him wracked their brains and argued over possibilities, he stayed quiet, his eyes locked on the enemy's side, watching their expressions.
When the time for battle finally arrived, all players vanished from their platforms and were transported to the center of the coliseum.
Shade's gaze shifted to the spectator stands, now filled to the brim.
"Almost no empty seats left... Even though we can't clearly make out the figures behind the barrier, it seems this event attracted quite a lot of people," he observed.
A notification popped up right in front of his eyes.
[Prying Eye is active.]
[List of the enemy faction's purchases.]
[Prying Eye] x1
[Second Guessing] x1
Shade frowned as he read through the enemy's purchases.
"Makes sense… But it doesn't get us anywhere."
He waited patiently for the enemy's list to refresh, staying focused and ready to respond the second the enemy made a move.
On both sides, soldiers were getting into position, following their officers' orders, mentally preparing themselves for the fight to come.
A few seconds before the phase ended, Shade caught a glimpse of impatience on the enemy commander's eyes locked on him and smiled.
"You've got a lot of items to buy if you're sweating already…"
Shop interface still open in front of him, Shade didn't rush. He was confident in his reaction time. All he needed was for the enemy to move first.
And he didn't have to wait long.
[List of the enemy faction's purchases.]
[Prying Eye] x1
[Second Guessing] x1
[Ban Hammer] x1
[Suppression] x5
[Crowd Control Immunity] x1
[Damage Reduction Field] x1
[Mana Waste] x1
[Revival Token] x1000
[Perfect Elemental Barrier]x1
[Light Speed]x1
Shade quickly analyzed the purchases. "Ban Hammer's in play—they're planning to ban me for half a minute. Five [Suppressions] drop everyone on our side by five levels. They've got crowd control immunity… and [Damage Reduction Field] to cancel 99% of incoming damage in a specific zone. Do they plan on turtling in a set area? On top of that, they layered in [Perfect Elemental Barrier], boosting elemental resistance by ninety percent. And of course, they grabbed the superior version of [Speed Buff], [Light Speed], giving them a 200% speed increase."
A headache started to creep in just from the amount of protection the enemy could afford. He turned his thoughts toward his own purchase options. "I'll follow the generals suggestion, I guess... Since they hit us with [Mana Waste], I'll return the favor and make their skills twice as expensive."
He quickly bought [Mana Waste].
Expecting to be the target of [Ban Hammer], he didn't hesitate to go for something to counter it.
[Death Denial]
"Everyone thought this was one of the best items for a war... Can't believe they skipped this… Are they counting on me hiding everyone in the [Umbral Realm]?"
With 130,000 points spent, he used the rest to grab [Reinforced Armor], [Elemental Armor], one [Crowd Control Immunity Token], five [Level Up Tokens], and one [Speed Token].