Chapter 101: 101
The Wood Monster Army obeyed his command with a resounding roar as they rushed past Draco's stationary form to leap into the mass of parasitic monsters .
The Ents and Shamblers were like trains that rammed into the wall that were the endless horde of enemies, their tree-like arms as well as their thick vines smashing, dashing and crashing into each other .
Their strength came in the form of their sizes and raw physical power, which was much more suited to large scale battles rather than small skirmishes . A quick and nimble person could outfox these two Wood Monster types with ease, but in such a situation where there was always an enemy within arm's reach, they were like combine harvesters collecting crops .
However, the parasitic monsters weren't brainless entities waiting there to be killed . They quickly overcame their shock and retaliated against their attackers .
Following the earlier example, one could not compare the prowess of a hundred elephants to a thousand dogs, but what if those dogs numbered in the hundreds of thousands?
In such a case, the elephants would be absolutely unstoppable in the early stages of the fight, but would soon be brought down by the relentless assault of the dogs, especially as the wounds and damage accumulated . This was precisely the case here .
The Shamblers, which were mostly vines and some bark, as well as the Ents, which were giant man-trees, were easily able to kill at least 5 Rank 1 enemies with every hit .
Their killing rate was horrific, especially in a battle like this, highlighting just how precious the Heart of the Woods was thanks to the Nature's Call active skill .
If Draco ever entered a Guild War and the opposing party was of the same level of strength as himself - or even slightly stronger - this skill was a definite turnaround . The duration was an hour, but the cooldown was 7 days .
However, the reason Draco was able to use all these abilities without fear was a particular boon he had received long ago but never had any real use for because nothing had ever pushed him - a reincarnator with skills of a God Rank player - to use his full power .
「Richmond's Herald – Special Rank
Mana capacity 100%; Mana recovery 100%; Skill cooldowns lowered by 50%」
This Special Rank displayed how overpowered this particular mechanic was, and it explained why the players of Draco's past life didn't deserve to unlock them unless they really did things that went above the AI's prediction .
Of course, excellent achievements had been made before, as Draco wasn't the only talented or lucky person among 7 billion humans . However, the key point was that they all were within what the AI expected, meaning that those acts were great, but not exemplary per se .
To those within that period of time, it was a great act, but as they progressed, it would become impressive at best . Humankind in general developed so quickly that things that were amazing ten years ago became absolutely unimpressive a decade later .
The Shamblers and Ents began to lose steam as the wounds piled on . For every step they took, a lot of enemies were killed, but many wounds also appeared on their bodies, bleeding out either yellowish sap or greenish fluid .
However, how could an ability from an Epic item be so short-sighted? Why make the duration one whole hour if the monsters couldn't last 3 minutes under pressure?
After all, the idea of durations on powerful skills were usually to limit them, because they could definitely last longer . However, if they did last longer, they would become too powerful for their Rank .
The Dryads, who had refrained from entering the melee, began to raise their hands as whitish-green lights began to disperse from their bodies . It wasn't like the sickly green of Roma's Mystic Arts, but the healthy green associated with nature, life and vitality .
'Dryad' wasn't a class, it was a race . 'Nymph' wasn't a class either, it was a species . As such, their actual classes were Druids .
Similar to how Roma was a Gypsy, yet her class was a Witch, Dryads were usually of the Druid class .
Druids were one of the best natural healers who boasted the most effective healing for injured parties . Their healing covered everything from mental to spiritual and even of the soul .
However, Clerics were more popular because that class excelled in giving out instant heals that replenished health immediately, for high costs . This was much better for combat compared to Druids whose healing was more fluid, but occurred over time for lower costs .
However, that depended mostly on the context of use . Utility of abilities and classes weren't strict, but variable .
To a group of players, who had health not surpassing 7000 at this stage, healing over time would be a waste since they would be dead long before anything useful happened .
To a bunch of giant Ents and Shamblers who had absurd defense and vitality, it was the perfect mix, as their survivability allowed the healing to function . This was especially so since multiple Dryads cast Area-of-Effect heals that worked over time, which stacked on top of each other .
So what was the result?
It was as if the Shamblers and Ents had drank an instant refill potion! Their HP bars rose from red to green so fast, it was like watching a character regenerate HP from those old single-player campaign games from the early 2000's .
What made one even more speechless was that this large scale AOE casting took only 5% of the Dryad's Mana bars . Their Mana Regen was also very high, so before the next time the Shamblers needed healing, they would be full again .
…
How the fuck were the parasitic monsters supposed to fight this? They were smaller in size and weaker, so their advantage came in the form of their large numbers, which allowed them to overwhelm their enemies .
Now, all that hard work was undone and would become meaningless unless they could assault the Dryads . However, some Ents and Shamblers had formed a defensive line around them, to which attacking would be fruitless .
This was because the Shamblers and Ents were only left open in the melee because they focused on attack, attack, attack!
Now however, they were focusing on one of the things that earth and wood based creatures were best known for, which was defense! Defense was the strength of these monster types, meaning that they would be even harder to hurt .
However, with enough numbers, this should be easy enough to overcome, and some of the parasitic monsters that were not in the line of attack for the initial charge moved to do so .
Their efforts bore fruit, as the Shamblers and Ents slowly began to lose health . Although the rate was abysmal and very disheartening, it was still something .
As long as those Dryads could be killed, this battle would be over for the Wood Monster Army!
It took a whole ten minutes of non-stop attacks to finally whittle the defensive Wood Monsters to very low HP and these exhausted parasitic monsters felt a burst of adrenaline enter them as they performed their last blows .
Just when they were about to howl out in excitement and glee, they noticed that a whitish-green glow had enveloped their targets en masse, sending them from the pits of death right back to full health and vigor .
The monsters, that had spent so much time trying to solve the problem from the source, felt so defeated that some of them gave up and rushed back into the fray . They would rather take their chances with the assault squad of the Wood Monster Army rather than waste their efforts on these enemies .
The true strength of the Wood Monster Army was that against enemies of the same Rank, they were like the clarion call of death for the duration of one hour .
However they were incomparably weak in scenarios involving enemies with fire magic, as well as those of higher Ranks .
This was shown as a few Rank 2 monsters entered the fray, a few attacks from them sending the Ents and Shamblers to the brink of death . What had been an unstoppable charge now became a bit more pitched as the immovable wall showed up .
The Dryads began to drain their Mana reserves as they continually healed the Ents and Shamblers in order to prevent casualties, but this was only a temporary solution .
They weren't like players who could pop out potions and down them like drunkards . If monsters - or monster races - could drink potions, many players would be killed to death .
As such, they could only rely on their natural regen, which clearly wasn't able to keep up with their consumption . This stopgap measure could only last for another five minutes before everything would come to an end .
However, the Wood Monster Army weren't the only force Draco deployed . High in the skies were 13 men riding on High-Rank Dragons, their auras distinct and extremely suppressive .
They were the Knights of the Round Table . Sir Lancelot, Sir Gawain, Sir Geraint, Sir Percival, Sir Bors, Sir Lamorak, Sir Kay, Sir Gareth, Sir Bedivere, Sir Gaheris, Sir Galahad, Sir Tristan .
And of course, the leader of them, the handsome blond-haired King Arthur Pendragon .
These fellows all had various personalities and skills, but one thing they shared was their oppressive strength, knightly valor and in this particular situation, a high Rank .
They were all Draco's Rank + 3, meaning that they were currently Rank 4 powerhouses . Not counting that they were riding on High-Rank Dragons of that same tier, they were ten times stronger than any Rank 4 parasitic monster here .
They had spent all this time getting used to their mounts, as they typically rode on horses, not dragons . However, Arthur was the first to get himself comfortable as he had ridden his wife many times .
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