( Luke's POV )
Luke calmly assessed the unfolding battle with the keen eye of a seasoned knight.
The current layout employed by the DarkSky guild was strategically designed to weaken the Demon Army early on by swiftly reducing their numbers and it delivered as expected in the early moments of the battle, as before a single Dark-Sky guild member died, thousands of demons had already lost their life.
The layout of the DarkSky guild in this war was such that the main army was stationed atop the hill where the dog-fight was supposed to take place, while half of their archers and mages were positioned in fortified towers scattered along the hill's incline.
In a way, these archers and mages were left isolated, almost like sacrificial pawns, cut off from the support of the main guild. Yet, they had the opportunity to take down dozens, if not hundreds, of enemies before meeting their end, given their advantageous vantage points.
Had the enemy charged directly through the funneling zones, the archers and mages could have picked off thousands of enemies on their own. However, with the funneling zone destroyed by the demon count, this ideal scenario never materialized.
Fortunately, the front lines of the demon forces did not focus on attacking these towers initially and instead, they charged past them, aiming directly for the main force atop the hill.
However, once the mounted demons had passed, the second wave of infantry soldiers did not overlook the isolated towers and began attacking the fortified stations, hacking and slashing at their bases in an attempt to bring them down.
From start to finish, the archers and mages stationed in these isolated outposts only survived for a total of 7-10 minutes before their positions were overrun and destroyed by the enemy.
Yet, in those brief moments, they managed to kill dozens of enemies each, and thousands collectively, gaining numerous levels and contributing significantly to the guild's efforts before their demise.
"There goes the last archer outpost," Luke muttered, sighing deeply as he witnessed its destruction.
He had hoped the archers and mages would hold out a bit longer, but the demons attacking them were simply too powerful. The high demons, in particular, could cut through stone like butter, needing no more than 10-15 collective slashes to bring down each reinforced outpost, sending the archers and mages crashing to the ground, where they were brutally killed.
On a positive note, however, the time the demons spent taking down the archer outposts bought the tanks atop the hill more time to repel the enemy wave before the next wave caught up, allowing them to hold their positions firmly against the demon onslaught.
"Knight's, be ready! The enemy mounts will start leaping over the tanks and crash in the middle of our positions once they realize that they can't break the shield wall.
Be strong and don't let them turn and kill the tanks.
Be strong—" Luke said, assessing the situation, as he realized that while the enemy was trying to blow past the shield wall now, by ramming into it, after a couple of unsuccessful attempts they were more likely to leap past it, given that their mounts had the ability to do so.
And just as he expected, a mere few seconds later, a few enemy demons tried to leap past the shield wall landing behind them in the area where the spearmen were standing, as before they could even properly land and turn, the Knights under Luke stepped in, slashing away the mounts legs and hacking away the demons heads, before they could even make a move.
"NO MERCY! NO WASTED MOVEMENT! KILL AND CONSERVE ENERGY" Luke shouted after scoring his first kill of the fight, as he tried to ensure that the morale of the guild stayed high, but the focus did not waver either.
"Blair! If you feel overwhelmed, just let me know, I'll buy you all time–" said Cervantez, as he told the Captain of the tanks to tag him in at any moment that he felt that the shield wall was feeling overwhelmed.
"Not now guildmaster, we can handle one more wave on our own–" said Blair, as he let out a loud roar and put his shoulders behind his shield and shouted a brave command.
"TANKS, WE PERFORM A COLLECTIVE [ SHIELD CHARGE ] ON THREE. EVERYONE, ONE…TWO… THREE… SHIELD CHARGE" said Blair, as instead of waiting for the next wave of enemies to bash into them, Blair called for his unit to use the skill [ Shield Charge ] which was a staple of the tank class.
"PUSHHH—" Blair said, as his unit let out guttural roars and pushed back against the enemies like there was no tomorrow.
The high demons, who were 8 feet tall themselves and sitting atop tall mounts, could not believe their eyes when they were pushed back like rag-dolls by the puny humans, as once the tanks performed the Shield Charge as a unit, they pushed back the enemy forces by a good twenty five meters and then sent them flying into the distance with a final push.
"Guildmaster now–" said Blair, as he painted to catch his breath, as it was at that moment that Cervantez leapt over the shield wall and faced hundreds of front line demon soldiers alone.
"Burn for me–" he said, casting his newly acquired spell [ Flame Wave ] as he turned the Stonebridge Hill into a sea of flames.
*Swoosh*
Within seconds, the attack neutralized everything in its path, reducing everything if touched to ashes just like the skill description promised.
With a single move, Cervantez managed to kill 86 demons alone, gaining 7 levels at once, as he stunned not just the enemy but his own team-mates too, who could not believe what they just witnessed.
"Is that the power of our Guildmaster?" Asked a tank class player who witnessed Cervantez's attack, as he felt like his jaw was about to hit the floor.
"So domineering! Our Guildmaster is so cool!" Said another player, as with his amazing display of power, Cervantez managed to increase the guilds morale big time.