Nie Yan stuck to one hard-and-fast rule, and that was to never have a direct clash. He would shave away at the enemy's numbers as much as possible. However, as soon as the skeleton army breached their defenses, he would order an immediate retreat.
Since it was like this, the players from Asskickers United relaxed substantially. Seeing the skeletons marching over step by step, they really did appear awfully slow. Faced with this kind of enemy, as long as they weren't surrounded, they could easily get away.
The horde of skeletons had already arrived within 300 meters of the Shoro Stronghold.
"Catapults, open fire!" Nie Yan ordered. The 70 catapults that had long since been readied immediately launched their payloads into the air.
Countless shells arced through the sky and fell toward the skeleton army.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Frost explosions rang out through the battlefield, encasing countless skeletons in ice.
Afterwards, the Armoured Ice Catapults were swiftly reloaded in preparation for a second barrage.
Close to half of the skeletons within 500 meters of the stronghold were wiped out. However, this didn't slow the rest down. Stepping over the bony remains of their fellow skeletons, they gradually approached the stronghold walls.
It was time for the Mages to shine. Standing atop the walls, they waved their staffs. A torrent of magic came pouring down on the skeletons below.
The Mages took turns casting AoE magic on the skeletons below. All sorts of different spells amalgamated together, producing a light show of fire, ice, and lightning. The skeletons collapsed in droves and turned into piles of bones.
Only about a tenth of the skeletons survived the bombardments from the catapults. However, even after arriving below the walls, they could only wander around aimlessly. They had no way of climbing the stronghold. In the end, they were cleaned up by the Mages.
The skeleton army was pretty terrible at sieging. Before long, the ground below the walls was filled with piles of bones, which only grew higher by the second.
Even though the skeleton army's losses were severe, evermore skeletons were flooding forward.
Qin Han fervently urged his skeleton army to press forward. Even if the losses were greater, he wouldn't care. He wanted to crush every obstacle in front of him, especially Nie Yan. That fellow had to die! He knew Nie Yan was leading the defenses at the Shoro Stronghold, so he couldn't get himself to withdraw.
Meanwhile, information about Qin Han being the dark hand behind the Vengeance of the Undead event and his treachery that led to the massacre of more than 500,000 players from 30 different guilds was exposed online. The players on the forums erupted in righteous anger, condemning his actions, and his reputation was forever tarnished.
Nie Yan took advantage of the opportunity to leak that Qin Han was also controlling Divine Protectors, God Executioner Sword, and Penumbra Empire from behind the scenes. More and more players started siding with Asskickers United and spurning the three other guilds. Nevertheless, Nie Yan understood that even though public opinion was on his side, the outcome would still be determined by the side with the bigger fists.
Only a single victor could emerge between Asskickers United and the Monet Financial Group.
The area below the Shoro Stronghold had already become a land of death with bones scattered everywhere. They were slowly piling up, 5 meters, 10 meters, 15 meters… gradually approaching the height of the walls. The skeletons were climbing up this mountain of bones.
The players on the walls couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat seeing the single-minded aggression of these skeletons.
Hovering over Nie Yan's shoulder, Battle Angel Kalenna repeatedly waved her staff, purifying the remains of the skeletons. However, she simply couldn't keep up with the rate at which the bones were piling up.
"Priests, Paladins, purify those remains!" Nie Yan commanded.
The Priests and Paladins raised their staffs and swords respectively. A curtain of light descended from the sky, dissolving the skeletal remains one after another. The size of the mountain of bones was slightly reduced.
The battle was reaching a climax. Nie Yan gazed off in the distance. Around 10,000 skeletons with pitch black bones appeared in his vision. His heart trembled. Qin Had already started dispatching his Elite and Lord-class skeletons!
The skeletons at the front gathered below the stronghold walls, with more and more piling on top of one another. The Elite and Lord-class skeletons stepped over them, and tanking the barrage of magic, they started climbing their way to the top.
If these Elite and Lord-class skeletons were allowed to reach the top of the walls, the consequences would be grave.
"Sparrow Hawk, use your Forbidden Magic!" Nie Yan shouted. Tang Yao had five forbidden spells in total. One was on cooldown while he could still use the other four, among which two were wide-scale offensive spells—definitely enough for the skeletons to have their fill.
Tang Yao started casting his magic, chanting out one syllable after another.
Sensing the intense magic fluctuations around Tang Yao, the players in the vicinity immediately retreated back.
"Sparrow Hawk is casting Forbidden Magic!"
"What powerful fluctuations!" The players in the vicinity gasped in shock. It seemed like the surroundings were about to be ripped apart!
Everyone's hearts were beating fast. From the stirring of the magic energy in the air, they could tell Tang Yao was in the middle of casting a wide-scale offensive magic. They couldn't help but look on with excitement and anticipation. Just how powerful would this spell be?
The skeletons were still tirelessly climbing the mountain of bones. Standing far off in the distance in the middle of the skeleton army, Qin Han stared at the change occurring on the Shoro Stronghold's walls. The sky was quickly shrouded by clouds of black flames. The intense magic fluctuations caused his face to pale. A thought crossed his mind, Forbidden magic!
Qin Han had seen the video of Tang Yao casting Forbidden Magic last time. Decree of Dusk wasn't an offensive magic, but its might still couldn't be looked down on. The spell this time looked even more astonishing. Clouds of black flames blotted out the sky over the battlefield, stretching out for 1,000 meters. The surroundings turned gloomy, like the coming of darkness before a storm.
Qin Han didn't dare to linger around any longer. He quickly retreated several kilometers back, only stopping after confirming he was safely out of range. It was already too late to pull out his troops. As he gazed at the distant Shoro Stronghold, he saw Tang Yao levitating in the air, his robes flapping in the wind.
Tang Yao waved his staff as an enormous vortex of magic energy converged on him. At this moment, he was like a deity. The intense pressure prevented the skeletons below from moving even an inch.
"So this is Forbidden Magic?" Qin Han muttered. He couldn't suppress his jealousy toward Nie Yan. So far, Asskickers United already had six Master Class players, two of which were Magisters. Meanwhile, his side didn't even have a single Master Class player! If he had just one Magister, the situation right now would be completely different. He felt extremely depressed. Why did all the top players flock to Asskickers United? He had previously attempted to bribe the top players in Asskickers United over to his side, but he only managed to poach a few second-rate small fry. Just what did Nie Yan do to make these people so unwaveringly loyal to him?
Archon Flame Apocalypse!
Tang Yao's spell was already nearing completion. After chanting out the last syllable, thunder and lightning crackled across the clouds. Black lightning and raging black flames started falling down from the sky like a torrential downpour.
Everything stretching out for 1,000 meters was raining black flames. A sight like this was truly spectacular and awe-inspiring. Each and every skeleton that came in contact with the raging inferno was transformed into piles of ashes. Even the Lord-class skeletons weren't spared.
It was like a scene straight from hell. Countless skeletons cackled and rattled their jaws as they struggled within the flames.
As the Archon Flame Apocalypse was going strong, one ray of light after another fell over Tang Yao. He levelled up five times consecutively, going from Level 103 to 108!
Even Tang Yao was dumbstruck. Every level after 100 required an astonishing amount of experience. But a single Forbidden spell had allowed him to rise five levels all at once. One could imagine how many skeletons had died!
The Archon Flame Apocalypse lasted for a total of three minutes before finally settling down. Everything stretching out up to 1,000 meters of the Shoro Stronghold was swept clean. The earth was scorched black, and it looked like the surface of the moon with craters everywhere. The mountain of bones had also disappeared.
The entire battlefield was swept clean. The siege of the skeleton army came to an abrupt halt.
Seeing the destruction wrought by the Archon Flame Apocalypse, everyone sucked in a breath of air, their hearts battered by waves of shock. So this was the power of Forbidden Magic? Too frightening!
Everything in a 1,000-meter wide area was destroyed. Not even a blade of grass survived. No wonder Forbidden Magic was labelled as the most powerful magic of Magisters. Sure enough, it was out of this world.
"Sparrow Hawk's spell is terrifying!"
"Yeah, apparently he shot up five levels right after using it! My god. Can you imagine just how many skeletons he killed?"
Asskickers United's players were discussing fervently. The power of Forbidden Magic was deeply engraved in their minds. Advancing to a Magister became the dream of all the Mages.
Qin Han gazed up ahead. In front of him was a vast, empty barren. Tang Yao's Forbidden Magic had wiped out at least 38,000 skeletons. Since the start of the battle, his side had already lost more than 70,000 skeletons. Yet his army had failed to even reach the top of the walls!
"No matter how strong your Forbidden Magic is, let's just see how many you can cast!" Qin Han shouted, his expression twisting with rage. Since he had already reached this point, he definitely wouldn't withdraw. If he couldn't even take down the Shoro Stronghold, he had no hope of defeating Asskickers United!
Before long, another enormous horde of skeletons flooded toward the Shoro Stronghold, launching a second wave of attacks.
The siege of the Shoro Stronghold attracted the attention of the entire playerbase. Tang Yao's Archon Flame Apocalypse left them speechless. The Forbidden Magic of Magisters could truly be described as heaven sundering and earth rending. Those who initially weren't too optimistic started changing their minds. Perhaps Asskickers United did have what it'd take to repel the skeleton army!