Chapter 97 - 97
The waiting game isn\'t going to last long with the Trolls present, angering the Ogres, so Cain leads the center group of transfers into battle.
All the support classes are in the middle of the group, with The Vala twins on the left, and Slayer plus his rogues on the right.
Both copies of Nemu are singing songs of war, increasing damage done, while they play spells to increase attack speed and damage. The sight of this central group, singing as they go into battle is helping the defenders morale, and the Phalanx of Ogres is seemingly much more disorganized than before.
The first wave of attacks from the Lamia Scourge Casters Cain is using as Lesser Golems cuts into the feet and faces of the shield wall, anywhere they can find a potential gap. It\'s enough to weaken their balance before the buffed up Trolls smash into the Phalanx and the defenses crumble.
Now that they\'ve knocked a hole in the shields the Lamia are dealing significant damage to the Ogres trying to reform their lines. Horns are sounding and reinforcements are running their way, but the brutal attack, combined with how fast Cain\'s [Might of Many] buff is adding damage to his lightning Arrows and [Acid Rain] is causing all attempts to reform the shield wall to arrive heavily wounded.
"Close up ranks, we\'re going to push forward, see if we can totally break the Phalanx from the back side." Cain calls and the fighters on their flanks as well as the Lesser Golems form a double circle around the healers and support classes.
One of the Nemu girls has switched to playing a slowing effect that is preventing the Ogres in the area from effectively defending themselves, and the area around them begins to clear from the deaths caused by Acid Rain. With their shields up to stop the rain, the Ogres can\'t move quickly enough to Parry, with them down the rain kills them.
Lightning is everywhere, both from Cain and from the Char based supporters. Two copies of her most excellent mana totem have everyone at almost full mana all the time.
The Ogres are trying to get the transfers to pull back, attacking the group from behind as they move towards what looks like the command section of the Ogre Army. They\'re fully surrounded now, with nowhere to go, but the casualty rate is incredible. Usually they would retreat when they\'ve suffered about a quarter of an area\'s numbers in casualties, but Cain estimates that they\'re getting closer to half in the zone around him and still haven\'t tried to run.
Instead they\'re all moving to protect that one command group. Hopefully the Ogre King is in there, because Cain has one last trick left. All fight long, he\'s been casting Acid Rain centered on himself, protecting the group and damaging mostly the Ogres closest to them. But he doesn\'t have to. Now he casts it on the Ogre command group in the distance and fires a series of [multi shot] Lightning Arrows in their direction, hoping it will Arc to their Commander and take him out.
The leaders are visibly falling under the surprise attack, bolstered by 30 seconds worth of damage from the summons that have been doing their very best for a long time now. Time seems irrelevant when they\'re so heavily engaged in combat, but it\'s certainly been more than an hour they\'ve been working to take down these Elite Ogres.
The horns of retreat begin to sound from the flanks, but it\'s too late for the center. The Trolls are into the shield wall around the command group and Cain can see an Ogre in a fancy outfit with a golden crown on his head.
That\'s exactly what he\'s been waiting for. He multi shots Poison Arrows into the Ogre King until his mana his hits redline. The poison ticks are steadily dropping his health and there\'s no Ogre Shamans left alive to cure him.
He dies with a thunderous roar, charging the Trolls and every Ogre in the area loses their focus. Some fight, some run. Some want so badly to escape that they knock their comrades to the ground as they flee. It\'s an absolute Rout.
The best their group can do in the light of this chaos is simply hold their position, waiting for things to settle. But as the mass of bodies begins to clear, they see friendly faces, the earliest Guilds to enter the Naga Raid today had already returned and joined the fight behind them, Crushing the Ogres as they tried to defend their King from assassination.
As they\'re celebrating, more and more Guilds come out into the battlefield to celebrate the demise of the Ogre King. Their greatest wish is that this will be enough to move the Ogre attacks back towards the fortified cities in the north instead of continuing to target them way out East at the gateway to the Elven Forests.
One of the city\'s archivists has a spell that creates an excellent painting of a scene, so the entire Darklight Host, now returned from the Naga Raid, along with the Clerics they met today and the small Guild led by Slayer, or PussySlayer6969 as he\'s formally known, have gathered around the fallen Ogre King to have their image recorded for posterity.
With the official business out of the way, Misha has begun chatting with the other Clerics, while Mythryll and Elmira are getting to convince Slayer and his Guild that honey cake is actually the greatest food ever invented. The sight is making all the city officials laugh, but Cain notices someone is missing.
"Has anyone seen Char?" he asks and Candia points over towards where Kone is sitting in the grass. Oh, that makes sense, she\'s under the Giant Lynx, surrounded by bears with a Nemu in her arms, fast asleep and smiling. If anyone loves fluff more than Kone, it is definitely Char.
The mayor has announced a grand feast on the City Square, which Cain fully intends to attend, if he can wrangle up his Guild. Now Candia, Lickity and Cixelcid have all disappeared. Oh, they\'re over with the group from the north wing, playing tag with the Lamias.
Cain is beginning to understand how the serious Guild Masters feel. It\'s almost impossible to get anything organized with a group this large unless you all have a good means of communication.
[Guild Alert from Guild Master Cain] Celebration Feast at the City Square in one hour.
That should do it.