With the western gate shattered, Kael finally stepped inside the outpost.
A system prompt flashed across everyone's vision:
[Objective Updated: Destroy the East Granary, West Lumber Yard, South Ore Depot, and North Stone Quarry. Final Objective: Destroy the Teleport Nexus to claim victory.]
The win conditions were finally clear.
The breach at the western gate forced the Orc defenders to reroute their forces, immediately relieving the pressure on Lila's main assault. Moments later, the eastern wall collapsed. The Starlight Town army poured into the outpost. The final battle had begun.
The Orc legion had broken past level 35, making them brutally lethal to the freshly minted level 30 players.
[Tauren Warrior]
Level: 36
HP: 12,000,000
Physical Attack: 26,000
Earthshatter: Stuns enemies within 15 yards.
[Troll Headhunter]
Level: 36
HP: 10,000,000
Physical Attack: 25,000
Pierce: Deals 50% damage to one target directly behind the primary target.
[Ogre Battlemage Captain]
Level: 37
HP: 150,000,000
Physical Attack: 28,000
Bloodthirst: Increases attack and movement speed of nearby allies by 20%.
The massive stat jump was staggering. The defending players' heavy casualties must have fed experience directly to the Warchief's army. Facing enemies hitting for nearly thirty thousand damage per swing, the attackers couldn't afford a single mistake.
They only dared to push forward behind Norlun and the other high-health bosses. Though the garrison was capped at 50,000 DP, there were only about ten thousand actual Orc units. By the numbers, it was a three-to-two advantage for the players.
Reality, however, was messier. No one wanted to trade blows with the high-health, high-damage elites and captains.
Someone in the raid shouted, "Kite them all to Hazel! Let her tank!"
The strategy caught on instantly. Soon, Hazel was surrounded by twenty-odd elite bosses. It became a chaotic, clanging stalemate—neither side could scratch the other.
Kael had a much easier time. He found a narrow, deep alleyway that only allowed two or three Orcs to stand shoulder-to-shoulder. He swapped his [Primal Core Arrow] to [Ironwood Form], then summoned his clone. The clone inherited the [Ironwood Form], allowing Kael's main body to switch back to [Flame Form].
Positioning was key. He placed the clone against the back wall and stood a few yards ahead. When the Orc reinforcements rushed the alley, they hit an invisible wall. The moment they crossed the sixty-yard threshold, the clone's ironwood arrows knocked them back. Kael stood safely in the front, raining down uninterrupted fire.
Ten to twenty million HP melted in under two minutes under Kael's assault. With the combined onslaught of [Splintering Arrow], [Explosive Blast], piercing shots, and [Phantom Barrage], he cleared the entire alley in just over twenty minutes.
Fifty minutes remained until the Warchief’s reinforcements arrived. Clearing his sector, Kael vaulted onto a rooftop and sprinted toward the main front.
The battle was in full swing. He circled the perimeter, noting that while the players were fighting hard, they held the upper hand. They could easily wrap up the skirmish within half an hour.
He didn't join the main fray. Instead, he locked onto a new target: Mia the Quilboar.
[Quilboar Mia (Lord)]
Level: 38
HP: 1,200,000,000
Physical Attack: 32,000
Physical Defense: 18,000
Lash: Deals physical damage in a 45-degree frontal cone.
Lord’s Guardian Aura: Grants 3,000 Armor to all allies within the outpost.
Mia hadn't engaged the players. She was guarding the Teleport Nexus with twenty elites. Destroying the nexus was the final win condition; they could ignore the other bosses, but this Lord had to die.
At their current pace, relying on the main raid to kill Mia would take too long. They would definitely trigger the Warchief's reinforcements. For ordinary players, a new wave of enemies was just a chance to farm more points. But Kael didn't care about points. He just wanted to raze the outpost to the ground so he could plant the World Tree in peace.
Kael approached the Teleport Nexus and engaged Mia. She wielded a spiked mace and a long whip coiled at her hip, making her dangerous at both melee and range. Her whip had a reach of over forty yards, forcing Kael to carefully manage his distance. However, between the knockback of the [Ironwood Form] arrows and Galeharrow’s [Silkbind Shot], she couldn't close the gap.
He spent seven or eight minutes clearing out her elite guards before focusing entirely on the Lord.
-84,557 (Main Body - Auto Attack)
-26,744 (Main Body - Explosive Blast)
-287,897 (Main Body - Critical Hit)
-57,445 (Clone - Auto Attack)
-197,887 (Clone - Critical Hit)
Without the [Flame Form] buff, the clone's damage was significantly lower, but a combined volley still dealt around half a million damage. With 1.2 billion HP to chew through, it would take Kael thirty to forty minutes to solo her.
Too slow.
Kael opened his whisper tab to Lila. "Send a few support classes to the Teleport Nexus. I'm fighting the final boss."
"On it!"
Moments later, a Warlock, a Priest, and a Shaman arrived, accompanied by two [Undead Carrion Ants].
Kael barked orders. "Shaman, drop an attack speed totem. Priest, shield the Warlock. Warlock, prep your curses, flank her, and wait for my mark."
"Got it," the trio replied.
Mia swung her mace, spinning in place to whip up a violent hurricane. The moment the animation ended, Kael shouted, "Now! Curse her!"
"Copy!"
Armor reduction and damage amplification debuffs stacked onto the boss. Kael commanded one of the [Undead Carrion Ants] to bite her from behind, further shredding her armor. This setup would cut the kill time down to roughly thirty minutes.
The first phase went smoothly. Despite triggering an enrage mechanic, the boss couldn't power through the ironwood knockbacks and [Silkbind Shot]. She never even touched Kael. But when Mia’s health dipped below 300 million, she unleashed a piercing howl and shapeshifted into a massive, monstrous boar.
Her mass increased exponentially. The ironwood arrows no longer caused any noticeable knockback, and the [Silkbind Shot] root only lasted a tenth of a second.
Kael immediately swapped the [Primal Core Arrow] to [Flame Form], spawned a new clone to maximize DPS, and switched his main body's arrows to [Frostbind Form]. The chilling effect was heavily resisted, but combined with the split-second roots, it was enough to blunt her reckless charges.
Minutes later, a server-wide alert chimed:
[SYSTEM: The attacking faction has successfully slain Lord Mia. Orc Legion morale has plummeted!]
The notification echoed across the Starlight Town raid, igniting a massive cheer. They didn't know if the Orcs actually got weaker, but they suddenly felt invincible.