At last, Komtur took the floor, needing to clear things up and stop the panic.
Komtur: Calm down. Everyone knows only a part of the plan. There are Panda spies in the alliance. Don’t complain that we aren’t disclosing the details of our strategy.
Komtur: I’m going to tell you now; there’s no point in hiding it anymore.
Komtur: Holding Condor for six hours is impossible. We’ve lost two castles while trying to hold them off and realized that we need a different approach. We need to win time.
Komtur: The best defense is a good offense. Instead of waiting for Pandorum to strike, we decided to launch our own attack...
There is a tactic in chess: when your opponent endangers your piece, instead of defending it, try creating a similar threat to distract them and make them lose initiative or force them to exchange their piece for yours.
According to our clan leader’s words, at that moment, Evil Mook and the majority of our forces were preparing to attack Atrocity, Pandorum’s astral capital. Our diplomats had managed to convince NAVY to use their ships to launch a surprise attack at the Pandas’ fleet. Like all clan strongholds, Atrocity was protected by an impenetrable dome, but it still had a weak point: the respawn circle in the hold used to capture dead souls. Getting inside the astral prison was a piece of cake: all you had to do was die somewhere in its vicinity. Our strategists planned to send thousands of players into the Atrocity resp circle, have them resurrect at the same time, use powerful spells and scrolls to breach Pandorum’s defense, and force them to fight inside the fortress. At the same time, the NAVY fleet would fire at the dome from the outside, preventing our enemies from focusing on one target at a time. The point of this preemptive strike was to foil Pandorum’s plans, win some time, and decrease the time interval of the assault on Condor. The Pandas would have to move their fleet into the Astral Plane and then reassemble, regroup, teleport to us...
I had visited that respawn circle and saw the artifact cage where the Pandas imprisoned their captives. It couldn’t hold Ananizarte, and I escaped by using Blazing Warrior. Would our allies manage to repeat that? Had our enemies restored that after the chaos caused by the dark goddess? I hoped that they hadn’t, and our leaders probably did as well because otherwise, we had not a chance in the world. The resp circle in Atrocity was geared toward an attack like that; it could be held for hours while blocking the only passage and raining fire on unlucky attackers. That was a truly desperate plan. The entire alliance could keep dying there for a long time, letting Pandorum get thousands of kills. Eventually, they might get locked via stonejammers and would have to petition the admins.
“Cat!” I heard Olaf’s voice as he walked up to me from behind. “Are you finally here? Good. Let’s go, and I’ll tell you something. You’re going to play a special role.”
I turned around but didn’t get a chance to respond as scouts suddenly spoke up on the raid channel.
Abel: Attention! A large group of signals approaching from the northeast border! They’re flying!
The northeast of Dorsa was a mountainous wasteland, beyond which lay a woodland sea that stretched to the icy ridges of the northern coast. It was empty except for rare groups of adventurers. That seemed like a strange origin point, and we still had time until the enemy attack. Who could it be?
A few minutes later, the scouts who detected the visitors turned on Bird’s Eyes, and we saw several oddly shaped airships surrounded by packs of flying riders mounted on birdies that resembled giant white storks. Their sails and fluttering banners were emblazoned with a strange emblem: a gold-outlined tongue of flame. I had never seen it before, but veteran players seemed taken aback.
Komtur: Lightbringer? Are they elves?
Abel: Yes. One of the houses of Im Enoi. Lorindale, is this your handiwork?
Lorindale: No...
Abel: We have positive rep with them. What should we do, let them through?
Komtur: Yes, do that.
The elves? Im Enoi — I had heard of this faction only once. They lived in the wild forests to the north, beyond the Black River. I didn’t know anything other than that newly created elven characters started their game there.
A small fleet appeared on the horizon, headed straight for the air docks of Condor. The Watchers didn’t stop them, and the leaders of the clan went outside to meet the guests.
The stork-riding elves circled the castle keep, and straight lines of warriors disembarked the silvery ships. Going by their tags, they were high-ranked officers: ellirian archers, priests of Lightbringer, and Oberons with sparkling weapons and elaborate armor. The last one to leave the ships was their captain, a golden-haired NPC identified by the system as Cey-Rus Amparion, the head of the Third House.
He looked over the Watchers with his icy blue eyes and, just like a real human, greeted each and every one of them, suddenly letting his gaze dwell on me.
“Hello, everyone. Players, today we’ll be fighting side by side!”
Chapter 10
Dorsa, Condor, the castle of the Watchers
I STILL REMEMBER the anxious feeling of waiting on the walls of Condor. I was horribly sleepy. Many of us had spent the previous 24 hours fighting, barely managing to carve out an hour or two to rest. Most of the battles
