A New World, an immersive game experience

With the flaming boulder falling from up high, the group moved to their assigned locations. And as they left the fort, the boulders finally landed.

As one would expect, most of the flaming boulders flew harmlessly over the walls, or landed short of the walls. While the occasional boulder connected, the barrier protecting the wall easily prevented any damage.

The forts, on the other hand, quickly caught aflame. Left without a barrier, the boulders were free to land anywhere inside. However, even as the flames spread, the damage was minimal.

In preparation, most wooden buildings had been removed. Especially near the walls. And while the flames burnt hot, it could not melt stone. Nor could it bring the reinforced walls to a breaking point with just one or two volleys. Dozens would be required to destroy the walls.

A second volley quickly followed, as if to say the walls would soon crumble. As the flaming volley soared high into the air, everyone sprang to action.

Leaping onto Ceph\'s back, Eldrian took off into the sky. On the ground, Vivian raced on Evale\'s back, the centaur shooting explosive arrows that soared through the air and opened a path in the undead mass. Which the two leapt through to aim for the trebuchets.

Before the path could close, a party of elite centaurs followed. Each carrying a mage or archer on their backs. They crashed into the already disorderly undead with overwhelming might. Sending the lower undead flying as they followed after Evale and the carnage she spread.

From up high, Eldrian and Ceph struck down the boulders near them as the next volley was launched. Sending the flaming stones crashing down into the undead and bringing flames to the horde.

"There!" Eldrian shouted and leapt off into the sky, thrusting himself downwards with a gust of wind as he brought Crystoi to bear. Pinning an armored vampire to the ground as it trashed at him.

Taking out a sword that had come from the capital, Eldrian separated the vampire\'s head from its shoulders with ease. The blade cutting through gorget plate protecting its neck with ease. With its heart shattered and head removed, the vampire was killed in less than a second.

\'Not bad... Tier 8 weapons certainly are something.\' Eldrian thought, moving to dodge the attacks of the surrounding vampires as they recovered from their shock. They were all in full plate, some shone in the light hue of Mithril, others were simple steel. None appeared to be adamantine though.

With that knowledge, Eldrian was confident the blade would be able to cut through one and all, given enough force. After all, this group of vampires was a squad of only Tier 5 and 6\'s. The Tier 7\'s and higher were back at the trebuchets. Spread over the kilometers making up the horde.

"Get him!" The vampires shouted, and they would certainly have managed if Eldrian was alone. They had reacted before Eldrian\'s target\'s head had flown and were already bringing their weapons to bear. Spells were forming, and all Eldrian\'s routes of retreat were being cut off.

Dozen of Tier 5 and 6 vampires were too much for Eldrian, especially in close combat. However, there was no rule that said he had to stay where he was.

As their attacks rained down on Eldrian\'s location, he disappeared into the air. And what welcomed the vampires was the crushing weight of an implosion.

Manipulating the flow of air as if a black hole had appeared in their center. Ceph compressed it until their armor crushed into them, before letting the build up explode by natural phenomena.

The crushed vampires were sent crashing through their allies. Tearing through them like the human sized bullets they were.

The devastation was insane, and it immediately drew the attention of the stronger undead. Its scale was such that the undead thought Ceph and Eldrian to be the human\'s trump cards. They were also easy to spot thanks to both flying in the air. And an Alicorn and elf certainly seemed capable of being the city\'s trump cards.

Dozen of figured dashed towards them, three of whom flew at speed comparable to Ceph before his upgrade to Tier 5.

"Those are the Tier 7\'s. One vampire, one revenant, and one ghoul." Eldrian calmly commented as he and Ceph dashed into the air. Climbing to five hundred meters in the air before pausing and waiting for their targets.

The undead approached them without hesitation, crossing the distance separating them in mere seconds. They were extremely confident in their strength and prepared their spells as they flew higher and higher. Ready to strike the duo the instant they entered their range.

And perfectly timed, Ceph dispelled their flight magic. To an Alicorn, the air was their second home—right after the forest. Despite the many Tiers separating them, Ceph was completely capable of weakening their flight magic with an anti-flight barrier.

Flight was a complicated enough spell as it was. Just a slight interference could send one tumbling down to their deaths. Thus, Ceph\'s interference worked wonders.

While their flight spells did not crumble to nothing, the undead lost control. Flailing in the air as they attempted to fix their spells, all their attacks naturally dissipated into nothing. And it was as they worked to fix their spells that Eldrian moved. Enhancing the effect of gravity around them.

It had taken him a long time to perfect this spell, and he had only figured it out thanks to his friends. The science was beyond him, but once he had gotten the visual, the rest had followed quite easily.

Unable to account for their sudden increase in weight, the undead fell. Their spell now completely breaking as the variables they had accounted for no longer held any truth.

Now, while five hundred meters was a good distance, it would not kill them. However, as they fell, they were easy targets for Evale and the elites following her. In their dash, their aim had changed from the trebuchets to the flailing undead. As if this had always been their true target.

Spells and arrows flew from down below, making pincushions of the undead. And when they finally landed, Vivian rushed them with her cleansing blue flames.

When that was not enough, Evale was their with her expensive high grade arrows from the capital. Specifically made to kill the undead, each cost several dozen golds, but its damage to even the higher undead made it more than worth it.

Immediately after, they retreated.

As fast as they had sortied out, they turned around and escaped before the undead could regroup.

The original group of armored vampires were the first to attempt to stop them. However, their armor—crushed due to Ceph\'s spell—greatly limited their mobility. Allowing everyone to safely make it back to the wall as the fifth volley of flaming boulders entered the sky.

"That was insane!" Vivian shouted in elation as they regrouped in one of the gatehouse towers. The occasional rumble of the earth sounding from outside as the massive boulders landed after their long flight.

"I can\'t believe I agreed to the plan." Evale said, stunned by the fact that things had worked out so smoothly.

She had never thought they would be able to take out so many strong players on their first move. From here on, the undead were sure to be even more wary, but if they were too wary, then they would end up stuck at the wall.

While the cost of maintaining the barrier was great, with an entire city donating their mana to it, they could manage as long as less than half the boulders made contact.