Compared to the numbers that the enemy forces had, our numbers weren't much. We're currently standing at the top of a tall tower, so there were only 6 other allies together with us.
There was only one mercenary that had a red outfit on as well.
The enemy forces looked to be over 20 in numbers, and most of them were wearing red outfits.
"What's this? Looks like the first enemies we're fighting are just a bunch of rookies and girls."
"Hey come on, this is good for us! We'll just kill 'em quick and go around gathering up kill points!"
The enemy mercenaries advanced towards us as they talked amongst each other. Looking at their class composition, it looked like most of them were knights, with thieves, mages, and healers mixed in, making it look like this entire group was from a single guild. This was further proven by the fact that they were talking to each other as if they knew each other well.
"But they're still red outfits, so be careful."
A female user with an attire that looked like a healer spoke to them with a somewhat cautious tone.
"As if! We have several times more numbers than them, and can't you see their class composition?"
"In any case!"
As I didn't want to wait for them to finish their little talk, I dashed in towards them.
"Wha…!?"
One of my passive skills is the 'Force Blade' skill, which is the only skill that drains mana even though it's a passive one, a unique skill that's only given to Grand Masters.
To explain, when you reach the 1st proficiency tier in your class, you're called a 'Master', and users that achieve this tier can then use the passive skill called 'Aura Blade'. For users that raised their character with a mixture of both solo play and party play, they usually reach around the level 700~750 mark when they reach a 'Master' proficiency tier.
This passive skill can be activated at the same time as any of your active skills differs in the time it can last depending on how much mana you have left. If you have enough potions, you can continuously keep this passive skill, and it doubles all melee damage. If you were to use an active skill on top of this, your total damage output could reach 3 times the normal amount, so it's definitely a very useful passive skill.
It's enough of a difference that some in Blue Sky say the real game only starts after you reach Master tier proficiency. Usually, 'Aura Blade' differs to each individual user, but it covers your weapon with a colored aura that uses up your mana and is used to both show off an aesthetic look and show how powerful you are to others.
However, with 'Force Blade', it's different. Currently in the world of Blue Sky, as far as I know I am the only user who has reached the Grand Master tier in proficiency, therefore I am probably the only one who knows about this. The effect of the skill isn't known to the public as well. I only figured out that it makes the blade completely invisible when I was testing it in the Red Plains previously.
Therefore, the enemy mercenaries didn't realize just how dangerous and powerful I was when they saw that I had activated the 'Force Blade' passive skill and simply lifted their swords in defence to my attack, but the result was gruesome for them.
"Arrgh!"
With a single strike, one of their arms gets sliced off, and the 2nd strike cuts their head off.
Not stopping there, I cut down two more mercenaries that were in a stunned state before one of them shouted out, waking them up from their stupor.
"A… Attack her!"
As their voice was feminine and shaking a bit, I presumed that it belonged to that healer.
"What is that? That doesn't look like a Master skill though!"
One mercenary that successfully fended off my Force Blade with their Aura Blade spoke with a frown.
Sorry, but I had no intention of explaining what my skill was.
[Grand Slash]
I swing my Excalibur down right on him. As he had successfully parried my attack once, he assumed that he could do it again a second time. However…
Slash!
Together with his own sword, my blade goes right down on his face. Together with the gore mod that was added to the game some time ago, the realistic gore that portrayed by my brutal attack was sickening enough to make anyone almost puke, but I've become desensitized by it after 5 years of experience to a similar degree. Some people claim that because of the violent nature of the game that the people in society are becoming more violent as well, but there had been very little case of the average people committing murder or violence because of those influences, and those that do commit murder were already psychotic people that could murder without hesitancy. Playing these kinds of games is a way for people to relieve their stress and violent tendencies safely, causing no problem in my opinion.
"Damn it! It's a high-ranking player."
"Damn…!"
The enemies then realized the situation and bunched up together defensively. In the meantime, the mage among the enemy group attempted to attack the low level users on our side.
[Fireball]
[Dispel]
However, Katalina easily destroyed their attempt.
"No way! To complete a whole spell within that time frame…!?"
It sounded completely plausible for me, as I knew about the extremely short casting time that Katalina had achieved, but it seems like it was a massive shock to the enemy mage.
But in any case, it looks like they're bunched up together!
That means it was a chance for me to rack up high amounts of kill points. I glanced at Katalina. She nodded her head as if she already knew my intention, and I prepared to cast the active skill 'Sword Storm'.
Before I cast it, I carefully step towards them and study their movements.
"Haah!"
It seemed like one of them thought I had a gap in defence, as an enemy soldier jumped out from the bunched up group and tried to attack, but with a single counter attack execution, the enemy soldier immediately flopped dead.
Feeling our overwhelming power against them, they looked like they wouldn't even think about fighting back. Now was the time.
[Mass Curse]
A magic curse that decreases the stats of users was cast on them, which had a relatively short casting time.
"Ugh! It's a curse."
"Healer, quick, get it off us."
Since there was a powerful opponent standing in front of them and their own stats were decreased by the curse, they hurriedly asked the healer to dispel the curse from them.
[Anti Magic]
[Anti Magic]
The healers try their best to undo the curse, but…
"My god, the curse isn't getting off!"
They all stare at Katalina with fear in their eyes. She simply smirked and looked smug.
Finally, I completed the preparation for the skill 'Sword Storm'. I wonder how many users can withstand the damage output of a Perfect tier active skill that has been augmented with the 'Force Blade' passive skill?
With over 400% increase in my movement speed, I dash around the group, stabbing multiple enemies rapidly. The execution of the skill is very difficult as I needed to accurately stab the exact location I need to continue the combo and move onto the next target right away, but I had already practiced executing this skill often back when I was fighting many Red Orcs, plus the enemy users who had their stats lowered by the curse made it even easier for me to take them down than Red Orc monsters.
They were easier to take down as the curse cast on them brought their stats lower than the minimum requirement to dodge or reduce the damage they received from my attack. As my attacks scored critical hits multiple times in a row, every single enemy that was hit by my Sword Storm skill was put into panic status. Characters put in a panic state have the control and movement of their body limited temporarily.
It's a phenomenon that would occur on targets when they receive terrifying amounts of damage from any active skill attack. However, with the active skill 'Sword Storm', it occurs to the enemy 100% of the time.
Finally, in order to complete the final 'Burst' movement execution, I stepped off the ground as hard as I could to jump up as high as possible, concentrated my mana into my sword till crackles of electricity ran across the blade, which was stabbed directly onto the ground as I landed.
And then I regretted it.
"You freaking idio…!!!"
Katalina's voice filled with shock rang across the land.
Boom!!
An impact that I had never felt previously exploded throughout the castle tower. The enemy users that were directly in the centre of the impact all immediately got a Game Over. My finishing move was honestly a good one, but the tower had taken all the impact of the explosion directly…
"It's falling down!!!"
"Run away!"
The mercenaries from our side all ran around crazily in a panic, trying to escape from the falling tower. After the skill effect had concluded, there was only thick dust and the tower itself leaning to one side, falling over.
I guess the one good thing about falling is that it's not falling towards the inside of the castle walls, but outwards.
"Everyone, please gather around here!"
Hearing Katalina's hurried shout, the allied mercenaries all converged to her direction. They must have judged that since she proved herself to be a powerful mage, she must have some kind of answer to this situation.
[Fly]
In no time, Katalina cast a magic that granted flight ability to many people. The allied mercenaries start to float one after another.
Finally, as I watched the mercenary users and Katalina safely land on top of the castle wall next to the falling tower while I was still standing inside of it, I understood the terrible situation I was in.
She knew that I couldn't possibly die from this situation if I acted with common sense. Since I was the idiot who had caused this problem in the first place, Katalina was punishing me by not casting 'Fly' magic on me as well, which I could totally sympathize with.
I cursed in my mind for not having the foresight to see this kind of thing could happen, as I tried to escape the falling tower.
"The repair fees would probably be really high!"
Although the castle walls itself weren't heavily damaged since the tower had been snapped from its midpoint rather than the entire length, it was still a very tall tower, so the cost of repairing it would be quite high.
The enemy mercenaries standing on the ground outside of the castle walls were in a bigger panic than we were. Whether you're high level or low level, being crushed beneath rubble of this size means that you'd be dead immediately. The best tactic was to run away. But because of its immense size, the area that the rubble will impact was too large to run away in time.
I had already jumped point to point as the tower crumbled and escaped safely onto the castle wall. Even though I was the one guilty of breaking down the tower, I still watched it fall onto the group of mercenaries as if I was no more than an on-looker.
[You have slaughtered your enemies. With a single attack, you had caused a terrifying massacre. You receive the title 'Terror of the Battlefield'. You receive Bonus Stat +1 and 10% extra experience points.]
My mouth was agape and couldn't close, as I found out I had achieved 63 kills with that single attack. I've received a hefty amount of money for their demise as well. I had to deal with Katalina glaring at me with murderous intent and the allies who weren't looking at me with all too friendly gaze, but it was something I can handle.
The quietened battlefield was only for a moment as it once again fell into a chaotic fight. The damage I inflicted on them was way too little to turn the tide of the battle and was nothing more than a minor event. Although it was remarkable to score that many kills in a single attack as an individual user, considering that there were fifteen thousand enemy forces, they didn't even lose 1% of their total force.
She still wasn't looking at me with kind eyes, but Katalina and I still worked together to kill any enemy forces that tried to climb up the castle wall one by one. She wouldn't forget to cast a large spell to blow away groups of enemies from time to time, but every time she did, I needed to hurry so I could block any enemy force that could interrupt her as she was preparing her spell.
Thankfully, there were several mercenaries that helped me out, as without them I could have easily fallen into a terribly dangerous situation multiple times.
And so Katalina and I worked together to block the enemy forces from getting over the castle walls around us, but other places were much more pathetic in terms of defending.
With magic explosions here and there, and people slaying each other left and right, the brutality of the battlefield showed its ugly face. Those that recognised each other as powerful users acknowledged and actively avoided each other. As both sides recognise just how much you could lose from risking a fight and dying, they instinctively found those that are weaker than themselves to kill instead.
By that logic, the mercenaries that were bunched up with us were on the luckier side. They would benefit from our power and skill by occasionally killing any enemy that survived Katalina's powerful magic, or my sword skill, which left them with very low health, giving them a high amount of experience points for finishing them. Of course, it's not like such acts are strictly looked down upon by us. I was also very weak like some of them in the past where I couldn't effectively get a whole kill by myself, and in a siege battle like this where there are plenty of supporters, the enemy could easily and quickly become fully healed before I could finish them off, so the best thing to do if you're weak in this situation is to make sure you help by finishing off any that have low health before they can heal back up.
Whoosh.
With a sharp whistling sound as it cut through the air, an arrow flew at me, which I quickly dodged. The arrow which was aimed at me while I was taking the small-breather-that-I-could barely-afford flew past the point where I just was.
As the aim was directed at my head, it could have easily been judged as a perfect headshot and killed me instantly.
"Phew…"
As the feeling of relief passed over me, I knew that I should be more careful.
I suddenly realized that the number of screams and clashing of metals between soldiers became much more numerous around me. Looking around the battlefield, I noticed that our allies were in a very favourable state, and the number of enemy soldiers that made up the first advance group had decreased dramatically.
"Did we somehow successfully defend against them?"
The mountain of corpses that stacked high within the castle walls depicted the gruesome nature of war clearly.
"No, it looks like it's just starting…"
Seeing as how Katalina was surveying the surroundings with a solemn face, I also turned my gaze towards where she was looking.
A new line of enemy soldiers were heading towards our direction with numbers far exceeding the previous one we fought off, with siege weapons upfront as they marched towards us.
I cut and slash.
As I attack mercilessly in a trance, fountains of blood cover my visage. There is no rest for me. To stop continuing my combo skill amidst the endless amount of enemies around me is nothing short of suicide.
"Stop her!"
They don't understand that it is futile to go against me. They keep resisting against me, trying desperately to survive. They must believe that their superior numbers will take me down.
"Ghh…!"
Among them, an enemy soldier who wasn't able to avoid the path of my sword gasped as it stabbed into him. It was too late to dodge it.
Slash.
In return, I pulled Excalibur diagonally downwards, starting from the left side of their chest I stabbed them, killing them. Yet again, my total number of Kill Points increased. I was lucky that my kill points weren't shown since I was a mercenary, by this point I'd surely have over 100 of them.
"How are we supposed to stop that monster…"
"She looks like she's within the top 100 ranking users."
The enemies that tediously kept attacking me suddenly unanimously agreed. It seemed that the bodies of their allies around them as well as not being able to land a single attack had shocked all of them.
However, because of the numerous soldiers pushing forward to the castle, they had no choice but to move towards me bit by bit.
"Argh! I don't want to die. I only joined to raise my experience points, not to lose them!"
One of them turned their back around and desperately ran towards the siege tower he had just climbed up from. The others that saw him turn around and run also joined him.
"Idiot, why are you trying to go back? Don't you know that siege towers only go one way? There's no turning back!"
"You have a red outfit as well. Let's not go crazy here!"
"Shut up! I don't want to die!!"
People were trying to get out of the siege tower, while others were trying to run back into it. The entrance of the siege tower fell into a chaotic mix and soon was the epitome of chaos.
Katalina walked over, already having completed tidying up the mess.
"Casting complete."
She spoke with a quiet voice while smiling brightly. The target was the enemy's siege tower, which had fallen into a chaotic state.
[Inferno]
I wasn't sure how many times she had cast it today, but yet another fire element magic headed towards the siege tower.
"Uhh…!"
The users stood in frozen shock as they saw the fire river hurtling towards them. Those that are quick to judge things jumped off of the siege tower, but they were very few in numbers.
Boom!
"Aaargh! It's too hot! Heal me!!!"
"I don't want to burn to death!"
The siege tower had erupted into a hell of flames. Some players that survived changed their direction and headed towards me. They must have decided that instead of burning alive, it would be better to die in a fight.
However, their last ditch effort to go against me ended pitifully as more Kill Points for me.
Tap tap.
I lightly tapped the Excalibur on the ground to whip the blood away from the blade. The grip had become slippery because the blood that had sprayed on me ran all the way down onto the grip. If I wasn't careful, I could end up having the sword slip from my hand while I try to execute a skill in the future. It's natural to make sure your equipment is in the best state whenever you have a moment to relax.
Pulling out a mana potion from my inventory, I refilled my mana, which had nearly bottomed out. Katalina also drank a mana potion, as it seemed like she had nearly run out as well.
"Aww…"
The allied soldiers stare in jealousy at us. Of course they had to be, because of how expensive the drink was. I was also extremely jealous of top ranking users who could drink as many potions as they wanted without even caring about the cost in the past.
But to share my potions with the allied soldiers would not be the right thing to do, as there are way too many of them to do so.
After completing a simple maintenance check that way, we quickly move up towards a higher place. Although the battle on this side of the castle wall almost concluded, there were still lots of fierce battles in many locations around us.
"Can we go along with you as well?"
One soldier that was refilling their empty mana by sitting down on the ground hurriedly came up and asked us.
"All right then."
It would be cruel for me to say no when all they wanted was to follow us, and to be brutally honest, we needed some people to take the attention of the enemy away from us, which was why I accepted their request.
"Thank you."
One of them bowed to thank me for my generosity, but since what I've done wasn't exactly being considerate of them, I shook my hand side to side to dismiss it.
And so, we moved in formation together with the allied soldiers towards the northern side of the castle walls. Sometimes some remaining enemy forces would notice us and come to take us on, but they were quickly taken care of.
Clang!
"Ahhhh!"
The sounds of steel clashing against each other mixed with screams rang out in the air. It seemed like there was a deadlock battle happening nearby. I increased my speed somewhat and darted across the castle walls.
When I arrived at the noise, there were dozens of users all tangled in a battle. Even at a glance I could tell that the enemy forces were at an advantage and that it was only a matter of time before they would run the allied forces over.
Without needing to make any grand entrance, I stepped up to the enemy healers that were concentrating on our allies who were in a tight spot and effortlessly slashed their chests and necks with my sword.
"Aaaahhgh!"
Oh dear, that was a woman. I felt sorry, but it was unavoidable since she was an enemy.
"What the? It's an enemy!"
Hearing the scream coming from behind them, the battling enemy forces turned their head and saw me shouting out a warning to their forces.
"It's reinforcements!"
"Thank god! Push them back!!"
"Thank you, lord…"
The allied forces that looked like they were on the verge of death shouted in joy. Though, it's us that came to rescue them, so why are they thanking god?
"We still have a similar number. Don't be discoura… Ugh!"
A soldier that looked to be the leader of the group of mercenaries realized that they were sandwiched between two forces and tried his best to keep the morale up. Although it was commendable for his effort as the leader, I moved into his blind spot before he could finish. Seeing that I wasn't low leveled, he became shocked.
Vwoom.
He hurriedly pulled out his sword and activated an aura around it. Seeing as how the aura around the blade had quite a dark color to it, they definitely seemed like a high level user. His panicked state quickly subsided and studied me carefully with a serious stance.
Although I could have easily cut him down with my Force Blade, high-level users like him may actually know what Force Blade is, so in a cautious decision I activated Aura Blade as well. As my proficiency and skill level in Aura Blade had reached its absolute maximum in stat, it proudly showed much more power just in appearance.
Boom…!
A heavy dull sound rang out in the air as two Aura Blades clashed. After that, we went back and forth in attack and defence. Although our swords clashed multiple times in what seemed like a deadlock, he could clearly see that there was no way he could outpace the damage I was putting on him, as he frowned heavily in fear.
Just as I was winning, two mercenaries jumped into the fight between me and the enemy leader.
"Man. To think that Omega would be pushed back this much in a 1-on-1 duel."
"I didn't think this day where we'd have to help Omega would come!"
The two that came over with a playful smile on their faces looked to be 'Master' classes. Their swords glowed with auras. Around me, the soldiers were all busy fighting and deadlocked. Katalina was supporting them appropriately, but she wouldn't bother using powerful magic unless it was for me.
To make herself vulnerable by casting such powerful magic would leave her in a dangerous state, which is why she isn't able to attempt without any worry.
"Hey hey, she looks like a female user. Top level ranked user as well. Be careful."
"No way, is she Eva?"
"No way…"
They were right in thinking that, as the highest placed female knight user in the rankings was Eva.
Showing no sign of affirmation or denial, I began my attack.
It was very difficult to fend off the attacks of 3 different enemies while not using the Force Blade. Because I'm using a two-handed sword and cannot act quickly in defending or counter attacking enemies, it meant that I received lots of small cuts and a bit of damage from them.
Since knight classes have extremely high health and comparatively high dodging skills, I wasn't in danger, but it was hard for me to find any chance to attack properly as well.
Even though I wanted to use a skill and make a strong attack against them, they wouldn't give me any time to begin with. If that's the case…
Suddenly, I saw one of them slightly stagger backwards away from me. He seemed to be one of the master class users that had joined in the middle of the fight between me and the leader, and the aura of his sword looked very transparent. As you know, 'Aura Blade' is a passive skill that continuously drains your mana, making it close to an active skill. While powerful, it has the downside of using a lot of mana if your proficiency in using that skill is low, though not that much of a problem for me as I nearly maxed out my proficiency in it and have enough mana to rival a mid-tier mage. I had plenty of mana to go before I would need to recharge, while he looked to be running out.
It seemed to me that he was planning to back out for a moment to drink a mana potion.
The two enemies increased their attacks in order to cover for the man who had to back off for a moment, but since I had more clearance than when I was being attacked in 3 different directions, I deftly dodged and blocked both the Master class enemy and the user called 'Omega'.
The 3rd guy used this as a chance to drink down a potion. But I wasn't planning to let him. I lifted the master user who hurriedly tried to block me from getting to him with one hand and threw him to Omega who was charging towards me. As the 3rd enemy user was vulnerable while drinking the potion, I swung Excalibur at him.
"Argh!"
With a short scream, he received a fatal wound and fell over.
"Toty!!"
"You little bitch, how dare you do that to my brother!"
Soon, the two who had fallen over by my throw stood up and shouted at me in anger.
"Rudolph! Calm down!"
The other master dashed at me, blind with rage. That was good for me, as I easily jumped over his attack, which had received a penalty from being way too aggressive, and swung Excalibur right behind his back.
"Urgh…"
Then the user called Rudolph fell, just like that. As it was registered as a counterattack, he had instantly died.
[Sword Charging]
Using that as a gap in my defence, Omega tried to attack me with quite a high level skill, but to let him hit me with that kind of attack was absurd as his stats were way too low compared to mine.
Because of the enormous difference in stats, his attack looked like it was in slow motion, making it difficult for me to even get hit on purpose. To activate a skill against a user who's 100 levels higher than you is a suicidal act in terms of risk. He looked to be a user in the top ranked players in the server, but unfortunately didn't even reach 800s in level. It seemed to me that the difference in levels between me and him is over 100.
Which was why I easily dodged all of Omega's skill attacks, and every time I did so his expression looked more grim and scared. As I continually dodged all of his attacks, it seemed very certain to Omega what was happening to him.
Finally, his attack skill had reached its climax, and even though the skill should be emanating magnificence and beauty from its powerful attacks, now it simply looked pathetic even to other people.
"W… Wait!"
He hurriedly tried to say something, but I was already in the middle of activating a counter attack in time with the last attack of his skill and swinging my sword directly towards his neck.
Slash.
A gruesome noise of metal cutting through flesh rang out, and the man's body which had lost its head slowly slumped down onto the ground.