Marco and Ben are let through the portcullis with little issue and told to report in full gear to the marshalling yard on the top of the wall as soon as possible. They rush to their barracks room and are met with Shen and Lucia gearing up, they quickly follow suit. Marco rips off his plain clothes and quickly replaces them with his tight fitting under armor.


    He pulls his armor from his [Inventory], pulls on the pants and slips into the top, making sure that all of the pieces are sitting correctly on his body before he looks up to check on the others.


    Everyone else is doing their final checks, making sure buckles are tightened and tucked away. They all nod to each other and rush out the door, joining the throngs of people in the staircases headed upward, Shen breaks off from the group and uses the elevator shaft to raise himself up to the top of the wall.


    They eventually join their Tank on the top of the wall, only to see the horde of monsters headed their way. Marco wouldn’t even know half of the monster’s names if it weren’t for the announcement right before they made it back to the portcullis.


    Giant thirty-foot tall tree ents with light brown bark slowly move toward the wall, some old wounds showing an intensely black wood within.


    “Reminds me of my African Blackwood cutting board back home. I miss that thing; it was so expensive.” Marco thinks to himself.


    The gathered crowd of combatants flinches when a new noise pierces through the hubbub.


    *Ping* The Sunlit Pillar is Now Active


    The pillar that all of the gathered Adventurers are familiar with raises from the center of the marshalling area, golden glowing nine-pointed star glowing ever brighter. Marco squints at the pillar and then turns his attention to the horde of monsters and smiles when he receives notifications.


    *Ping* Blackwood Ent, [Earth] [Water]


    *Ping* Legion Knight, [Fire] Variant


    *Ping* Legion Knight, [Dark] Variant


    *Ping* Legion Archer, [Air] Variant


    Marco swallows his nervousness as he scans through the hundreds of notifications, more appearing every second. The one that scares him the most isn’t the Knights or Abominations but the one announcing the Lich leading the horde.


    *Ping* Ae’Vondur, Lich of Hopesfall, [Curse] [Dark]


    Marco tries to look at the green glowing figure standing in the air above the horde of ravenous monsters but he immediately has to look away. A horrible feeling overcoming him, similar to the Mana pressure that he learned to use but instead of a steady weight pressing against you, this feels like a thousand carnivorous insects are crawling over your body. “Bloodlust? Killing Intent?” Marco questions to himself, deciding to call it Bloodlust based off the feelings it gave him.


    “Dusk and Night! A Lich is attacking the wall.” Ben swears next to him. “And it brings so many monsters with it. This will be a challenge unless my Mother or Oren steps in.”


    “Why wouldn’t they?” Marco questions, turning to his Healer.


    “It is a balancing attack between the Liches and our powerhouses.” Ben explains, “If the Forestsong or Darkwraith attack then the Hopesfall will unleash its power as well. There is little doubt that we would win the engagement but the cost in lives would be staggering.”


    “Oh, they are both attacking as deterrents, preventing the battle from escalating too high.” Marco says, pieces clicking together for him. “Is there anything known about the Hopesfall? Known tactics or anything?”


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    “Nothing solid. The prefix on his name means he is a city ruler.” Ben says, gesturing to the high walls in the distance.


    “[Dark] is a nasty combination with [Curse]. Living shadows and horde enhancement most likely.” Lucia adds, looking nervously around at the shadows of the gathered Adventurers.


    “ATTENTION!” Violet’s voice commands silence as she steps through the gate made of wood and leaves that wasn’t there a second ago. Oren appears from her shadow, looking intensely at the Lich in the distance. “You can all see we are under attack by the Lichdom. We will defend the wall as we have done for centuries, we will keep Woodholme and greater Eldermyst safe from the horde on our doorstep.”


    Her voice carries such conviction and certainly that Marco is tempted to believe her, Oren picks up her speech in his normal monotone voice.


    “Luckily, they sent us Hopesfall, a sniveling worm I should have stepped on years ago. The Lich is known for his horde tactics, using a combination of [Dark] and [Curse] magics to enhance his horde and strengthen and controlling them to much higher degrees than normal.” Oren says, hands clasped behind his back. “Do not despair, he is merely a city Lich and this is likely the entirety of his horde. He is making a big move and hoping to take out important targets, like the Forestsong or myself.”


    Oren seems to find this amusing, a feral grin appearing on his face. Marco shivers in fright at the sight of the usually bored looking elf smiling. “That Lich is screwed.” He thinks to himself, shaking the terror away.


    “Normally in these battles, the higher-level combatants attack as deterrents against the others actions, however ol’Hopefall over there likely brought his entire horde with him.” Oren says, smile remaining fixed in place. “Meaning that we can remove an enemy of Eldermyst permanently today.” Oren flickers out of existence and a shockwave hits them along with a boom from above the horde.


    Marco squints, focusing on the blurry fight in the air above the horde. Oren is springing off the air as if it were solid ground, unleashing an absolute torrent of attacks, most just voids of color splashing onto the world before vanishing.


    “Now that Hopesfall is occupied, it is our turn. I will be protecting the wall and standing overwatch, my plants will attempt to save you if you fall to a monster.” Violet says, the gray forest on the Eldermyst side of the wall shedding all shades of gray and returning to verdant vibrancy. A small sheen of sweat coats Violet’s face as the forest begins to grow, scaling the wall and pouring over the top to form additional defenses.


    “Keep yourself and your team safe and go kill some rotten undead.” Violet commands, an almost chorus of voices sounding in the movements of her plants. A swish of leaf blending beautifully with a scrapping of root into a magical song of beauty and violence.


    The party gathers around Marco, planning their targets and what they wanted to avoid.


    “We have a bad match up against those Ents. If they have similar properties to the wood that shares the name then they will extraordinarily tough to damage.” Marco comments.


    “I’ve heard stories of Blackwood Ents, none of them good, I say we leave those to a team with more [Fire] Affinities than we do.” Lucia says. All of the remaining team members nod in agreement.


    “We should avoid Abominations as well, we are a good match up for them with our single-target damage but I think a dual element Abomination may still be too much for us.”


    “I think with Marco’s [Salt Circle] we would do well against the Legion Knights and their minions.” Shen comments, “My [Rampart] and armor spells should be enough to hold two at a time.”


    As they all make the decision on what monster they will hunt, a notification registers their choice.


    *Ping* Horde Attack, Legion Knights Eliminated (0/59)


    “Woah, that is a lot of Knights. I think that is shared job with everyone that decided to hunt Legion Knights though.” Marco thinks, asking his teammates about the large number of Knights on the job notification.


    “Yes, that job will be shared between everyone that has decided to hunt Legion Knights during this attack.” Ben says, summoning his [Hyperion Plate] and casting a [Shield of Hardlight] on each of them.


    Shen pulls his armor around him, gray stone from the wall stretching and melting over him to form [Earthen Armor]. Lucia is surrounded by her [Redirection Wisps], small black wisps of shadow that will deflect attacks and provide some protection. Marco summons his [Salt Skin], white salt crystals forming over his black leather and cloth armor.


    “Last checks, everyone in good form and ready to fight?” Marco asks to nods. “Alright, let''s do this.”


    One by one the party members slap the newly formed Inscriptions on the edge of the wall.


    *Ping* Activate Slowfall Inscription?


    Marco mentally agrees and a feeling of weightlessness comes over him, he takes one last nervous glance at the horde and hops over the edge of the wall and falls toward combat.