16 The Difficulty of Fighting for a Territory (1/2)
<Initiating Challenge>
Just then, a mound appeared on the Luna's lawn, in front of them, on top of it, was a sapling.
<Bonus Objective: Defend this <Life Tree Sapling> for a resource boon>
Despite the initial surprise, Luna was quick to think. The appearance of this bonus objective might prove crucial to their survival. If there was one thing that he first learned about this new world, was that it rewarded those who were the fast ones to adapt.
It may not have been mentioned, but there was a very high chance that this was a one-time thing. If they lost this sapling, they might not get another opportunity, at least not with another similar sized territory.
This new world was quite cruel. It was a good thing that Luna wanted his people to only use <System> recognized equipment. Because what was never mentioned, was that during this ”challenge” when claiming a territory, it would open rifts, which was where the zombies for this invasion would basically come from.
The reason for this, was that the limiters that existed intrinsically in the surroundings, would gather in the area of the <Territory> being fought for. This was how a <Territory> would be secured. The cause of the invasion, was that with the limiters in the surrounding focused on sealing the possibility of rifts opening, would not be present where they usually would be.
Until the <Territory> has been secured, those energies would not go back to their usual places. This was why the invasion would be based on the size of the <Territory> being claimed by a <Nation>.
Simply put: The larger the <Territory> the larger the energies required to seal the area. There was still the option of fighting the <Titan> in the center of the city.
This was pretty much an impossible feat as of right now. Should a <Nation> trigger that option, that would activate any unclaimed <Territory> within the city. Essentially, unless you either have enough people, at a high enough level, to defend while having people strong enough to fight the <Titan> at the same time, you might as well be asking to die.
The easiest option was to claim them one by one, and make the <Titan> disappear, but this would mean the loss of potential EXP and loot. At least, this was what Luna calculated in his head, for now. Right now he had more things to worry about.
After instructing everybody to quickly move the closest concrete barricades to encircle the mound, screams coming from zombies started filling everyone's ears. The level 10 players were inside the barricade, while those meant to be in the inner circle, were on the mound encircling the sapling, along with Apple.
With the rest of the original team on the outer perimeter to trim the numbers down a bit, the ones behind the barricade weren't as stressed out.
The first wave consisted of regular zombies, they were easily dealt with. The second wave, was more than twice the amount of zombies, still relatively easy to deal with.
The third wave however, consisted of even more regular zombies, and evolved zombies. Each person, besides Luna and Sura, were reinforced by another level 10 person.
Everytime they leveled, Luna told them to add points to VIT, that was also one of the main reasons why, when he hit level 20, he put all 20 stat points into VIT, was because he expected this siege to last for quite a while. The other reason being, that his passives, like <Regeneration>, and the <Blessings> of the two Gods, scaled off of his body's current overall capability and life force.
With merely these regular zombies and evolved zombies, Luna and Sura were harvesting them like wheat. Wheat, might actually be a compliment to these things at this point. Everybody saw this, and boosted their morale.
”Sir Luna is strong.. too strong!” Said one kid who was in the middle.
”That's LORD Luna, it's best you pay him the respect he deserves. We wouldn't even be alive, much less reach level 10 without his <Sovereign Nation> helping us out.” The kid beside him quickly rebuked him, as if calling Luna a ”Sir”, and not ”Lord” was the same as insulting his own ancestors.
Apple couldn't help but be amused at these kids, as she added ”Mn, I was saved by Lord Luna as well. Me and my brother. When everything was like Hell on Earth, he not only saved our lives, he also gave us purpose, beyond just surviving.”
”Exactly! I apologize for my mistake! He works hard, and we're here receiving EXP for free. I definitely have to repay his kindness! I'll increase my strength, so one day I could be of use to Lord Luna.” The kid who initially called Luna ”sir” quickly declared.
”What are your names?” Apple smiled as she asked.
The second kid replied ”Ah! I'm sorry for not introducing myself earlier, Lady Apple, my name is Crispin. That rude one is Basilio, we're both brothers! Thankfully, we were awake when the zombies came, we were making Sampaguita necklaces to sell later in the day.”
Apple couldn't help but giggle, finding these two young boys adorable ”You can call me Apple. I look forward to seeing you two fulfill your full potential.” despite talking this whole time, she never took her eyes off the battlefield for a second.
”Mn! We want to grow strong and look for our mother as soon as we can!”
Apple gave them a smile then suddenly, ”Chain Lightning!” seeing that one area was starting to struggle a bit, she quickly relieved the pressure by killing some regular zombies instantly. With how high Apple's INT stat was, she could actually keep up the skill for quite some time due to her naturally high Mana regeneration, only that nobody knew how long this siege was going to last.
Apple's strength garnered adoring gazes from the kids beside her. Seeing that electricity arc towards zombies, killing regular zombies in the initial tick of damage, killing evolved zombies in two ticks of damage, almost being able to kill them in one, even Luna was surprised.
In the future, he definitely needed to build at least a Mage Battalion.
So whenever she would see zombies starting to climb across the the outer barricades, she would help out. At this point, they were already at the 10th wave, the Agility focused people like Maria, Clara, and Hana, were running low on their stamina. It was a good thing that they gained a couple levels within this time, and added the stats to VIT.
The people in the back line, finally had to go forward, they were scared at first, but with Apple supporting them from behind, they quickly found that they had nothing to worry about, as long as they didn't slack off.
After several hours of defense, the final wave finally came. There were no regular zombies or evolved zombies. There were 3 of the new variant, surprisingly they came from outside, and almost effortlessly destroyed the walls blocking their way.
”Apple! Keep hitting them with your Chain Lightning! Maria, Clara, Hana, Boni! Handle the one on the far left! If you can't beat it, have Boni delay it for as long as possible and kite it around. Sura, you take the one on the far right.” Luna quickly barked out orders as he charged towards the one in the middle.