Ash Valor bit his lip, the metallic taste of blood grounding him against the chaos. He’d wanted to call out, to scream for his squad to back him up, but one look at the ramparts killed the thought. His brothers-in-arms were drowning, barely holding the line against the relentless siege. Asking for help wasn't an option.
"Fine. If these BOSSes want a piece of someone, they can have me," he spat.
For the first time, he felt a strange kinship with Caden Marlowe. He finally understood why the man had once abandoned the safety of the team to dive headlong into the monster tide. When your allies haven't grown enough to face the storm, you don't wait for them—you become the shield. Or in Ash’s case, the spear.
"No BOSS is vigilant every second of the day," he muttered, his eyes narrowing as he tracked the Hexwarden. Its health pool was significantly shallower than the others. "I’m an Archer, damn it. Why am I doing an Assassin’s job?"
Despite his grumbling, Ash didn't hesitate. He crushed a Displacement Talisman in his palm. Space warped. He reappeared, then vanished again. Three jumps. That was all it took to get within the sweet spot of his lethal range.
"Skybreaker Volley XIII!"
Thirteen streaks of light tore through the air. Before the first one even connected, Ash was already activating his next Displacement Talisman, blinking out of the danger zone. The notification chime rang in his ears like a funeral bell for his target.
[System: You have slain the Hexwarden! +8.6M EXP, +250k Gold, +1 War Merit, +1 Random Stat.]
Whether the BOSSes had been complacent or the sheer burst of a thirteen-hit combo was simply too much, the result was the same: the first target was down.
As he reappeared from his Blink, Ash found himself face-to-face with a Level 200 Crimson Bat. A predator, now prey.
"Let’s see how strong your head is," Ash hissed. "Mindshackle!"
His Willpower flared, a psychic spike driving into the creature’s primitive consciousness. The bat’s frantic screeching stopped instantly, its red eyes glazing over with a hollow, obedient light. Ash’s Willpower had surpassed the threshold for a BOSS of this level.
"Show me your kit," Ash commanded, his eyes scanning the partial info screen appearing over the creature. "What’s your best move?"
"Self-destruct," the bat droned, its voice a grating telepathic rasp.
Ash blinked. "What?"
"The Crimson Vow Self-Destruct."
A slow, predatory grin spread across Ash’s face. "Perfect. Absolutely perfect."
It was a long shot, but in a siege this desperate, long shots were his specialty. "Listen closely. Get into the thick of them. Find the other Hexwarden. Glue yourself to it... and blow yourself to hell."
Among a swarm of monsters, a single Crimson Bat shouldn't draw any heat.
"I can Shadowstep," the bat added.
Ash laughed, a sharp, cold sound. "God, you’re the partner I never knew I needed. Do it. Blink to the Hexwarden, then let it rip."
The bat shifted, its instinct fighting the mental leash. Ash felt the control slipping for a heartbeat. "Damn it, is the duration that short?" He slammed another Mindshackle into the creature’s brain, reinforcing the command until the bat’s resolve turned to iron.
"Don’t fly too fast," Ash warned, trailing at a distance, constantly refreshing the shackle to ensure his living bomb didn't wake up halfway there.
Outside the walls, the sudden death of the Level 250 Hexwarden had sent ripples of unease through the monster ranks. The surviving Hexwarden shifted its weight, a cold dread settling in its gut. If Ash Valor had picked it instead, it would be a corpse right now.
"Listen up!" the Hexwarden roared to the gathered Voidlords. "The Overlord sent us ahead to wait for the perfect opening. With Ash Valor stuck outside the walls, that opening is now! The Overlord is coming with reinforcements. We move!"
The creature swept its gaze over the monsters. "Maintain the Defense Wards at all costs. Rotate them. If the shields drop, we die. We take the Guild Grounds first, then Southhaven is next. We have ten days to end this."
Assaulting a city like Southhaven required an Overlord-tier entity, and Dustmaw’s sudden execution had thrown their timeline into chaos. Overlords were rare—Azure Prime held fewer than five in the entire region.
"We do as you command, Lord," a gargantuan monster rumbled. "Being cooped up here is driving us mad."
"Good," the Hexwarden sneered. "I’ll seize control of a few puppets to sabotage their Defense Towers from the inside. All flight units, stop wasting time on the ramparts. Mass your strength. When I give the word, we charge and slaughter these low-born humans."
It checked the horizon. "Ten minutes. Regardless of where Ash Valor is, we burn the city."
The Hexwarden was refining the assault plan when a Crimson Bat fluttered into its peripheral vision. "You! You're supposed to be leading the fliers. Why are you here?"
The response wasn't a word. It was a roar of white-hot energy and a spray of arterial red.
-130,000,000!
The explosion rocked the battlefield, the sheer force of the self-destruct leaving the Hexwarden dazed and reeling. It never got a chance to recover. Ash Valor was already pulling back his drawstring.
"Skybreaker Volley X!"
"Meteor Volley—five rounds!"
"Tenfold Shot!"
Ash burned his Mana to the floor in seconds. The system notifications became a continuous scream in his head.
[Kill Count +1, War Merit +1, +1 Random Stat, +210k Gold, +1.25M Guild Contribution...]
[Level Up!]
Sixteen BOSSes. Wiped from the map in a single, devastating burst.
"Level 202 already?" Ash muttered, his chest heaving. The self-destruct damage had been even more catastrophic than he’d hoped. With the Hexwarden dead, the primary threat was neutralized.
He tapped his comms. "Nina Fang, get the Assassins ready. Move out and circle the perimeter. If any of these bastards try to bolt, hunt them down and finish them."
Ash wasn't done. He Mindshackled three more Crimson Bats, positioning them high above the BOSS cluster to rain down consistent fire. He wasn't looking for raw damage now; he was fishing for Death Strike procs. With his current attack speed, Tenfold Shot could trigger a guaranteed kill every seven minutes, but he was gambling on the RNG.
"Ash Valor! Give it up!" one of the BOSSes bellowed, its wounds closing under the glow of a dozen healers. "Your arrows are nothing! You can't kill us all!"
Ash didn't stop shooting. "You think I’m trying to out-damage your healers? I’m playing the odds, friend. And if you lose the gamble once, you’re dead. Can you afford to bet your life on every arrow?"
Silence fell over the BOSSes. The arrogance evaporated, replaced by a suffocating tension.
"Don't push us, Ash Valor," another growled. "There are only ten days left. Why not just let us be? You keep your city, you get your levels, and we all survive the timer."
Ash laughed, a genuine, mocking sound. "Spoken like a true high-tier BOSS. You almost sound human with that bullshit."
He had the range. He had the advantage. He wasn't letting up. If any monster stepped out of the mental ward, they were shackled or shredded by a Skybreaker Volley.
"You’re all staying here and taking a beating, yet you won't retreat," Ash mused, his eyes scanning the backlines. "You're waiting for something, aren't you?"
[System: Death Strike Triggered!]
A Level 270 Undying Skeleton King shattered into dust.
[Level Up! You are now Level 203.]
"Level 70 gap and I gained a full level from one kill. I could get used to this," Ash grinned.
"Enough!" a roar erupted from the center of the monster horde. "Don't wait for the reinforcements! Siege! Siege the city NOW!"
Ash’s heart skipped a beat. "They’re actually going for it. Whatever help they’re expecting, it must be close."
Hundreds of BOSSes surged toward the walls. The horizon darkened as thousands of flying beasts took to the sky, a black tide of Level 270 monsters screaming for blood.
"Move! Back to the city!" Ash commanded.
The Arrow Towers on the ramparts were firing at maximum capacity, but the sheer volume of high-level fliers was overwhelming the automated defenses.
"Orion, give me Guild permissions!" Ash shouted as he burnt through four Random Displacement Talismans to reach the walls.
[System: You have been appointed Vice-Guild Leader of The Skystrider Guild.]
"A bit much, but I'll take it," Ash muttered, pulling up the Guild interface. He didn't look at the battlefield; he looked at the map, the resource bars, and the construction queues.
"Upgrade two-hundred Arrow Towers on the South Wall—Level 1, now!"
"Spend the Contribution Points. Build one-hundred new Defense Towers!"
"We have how much Gold in the vault? Millions? Sorry everyone, I'm taking a loan. I'll pay it back later—if we're still alive."
He poured the resources into his own gear next.
[System: Soulbound Weapon reinforced to Level 5. All weapon bonuses increased by 50%.]
The bow thrummed in his hand, glowing with a fierce, ethereal light. With twenty thousand points in total stats and a hundred thousand raw attack power, Ash felt like he could shoot the moon out of the sky.
He saw the gold balance drop to near zero and felt a pang of sympathy for Orion. Being in charge makes it real easy to spend other people's money, he realized. Everyone hates Orion until they become him.
"Siege mode is active! Everyone, join the main raid group for the buffs!"
As soon as he synced with the ten-thousand-man raid, his stats exploded. Six million attack power. Six hundred thousand Mana.
Vera Laine’s voice cut through the chaos of the raid channel, calm and authoritative: "13th Reserve, move to Defense Tower Sector 4. Flight squads, stay on standby for breaches. Healers, priority on Ranged units for Mana and HP. Tanks, hold the BOSS aggro!"
"Alright, Vera, let's see what we can do," Ash whispered. "Ellis Yang, keep that Mana coming!"
He chugged a Mana Draught and aimed. "Time to see if Skybreaker Volley XV can one-shot a BOSS."
At six million attack, a fifteen-hit combo was enough to delete an eight-hundred-million HP bar.
"Healers first. Then the fliers!"
"Skybreaker Arrow!"
A burst of light cleared his Mana bar instantly.
[System: You have slain the Undead Cleric!]
"It works," Ash grinned. Between Volleys, he kept his Tenfold Shot active, picking off high-threat targets.
But the monsters were desperate. A Wraith-kin Phantom reached the walls, shrieking as it unleashed its ultimate. "Phantom Summon!"
A thousand Level 200 Undying Creatures materialized inside the ramparts.
"Earthshatter!" An explosion rocked the wall, tearing a gaping hole in the stone. Abyss Fiends poured through, one lunging straight for Ash.
"Not today!" Brett Fang roared, leading the Galeforce Squad to form a wall around Ash. Grant and Nina were right beside him, their summons and blades intercepting the breach.
"Hold them for a few more minutes!" Ash shouted, his bow a blur. Every two seconds, a BOSS died. Occasionally, a Death Strike would trigger, turning a healthy monster into a pile of loot instantly.
"Captain, take out that Undying Knight!" Vera Laine’s private message flashed in his vision. "He’s popped Radiant Aegis!"
"On it!" Ash locked onto the Knight. The thing was a mountain of armor with nearly a billion health.
"Nina, get ready to steal the kill!" Ash yelled. "Skybreaker Volley XV!"
The knight’s Aegis shattered under the relentless assault, its health dropping to a sliver. A small, dark shadow flickered—Nina Fang—appearing for a split second to drive her daggers home. The Level 265 Knight collapsed.
"More, Captain! Give me more!" Nina laughed.
"Fine. Stormquiver—thirty rounds! Everyone, pick your targets and finish them!"
Ash unleashed a literal storm. Arrows rained down in a continuous, deafening whistle, carpeting the entire sector. The BOSSes’ health bars plummeted into the red. Assassins and mages scrambled to land the killing blows, reaping a harvest of experience.
Twenty minutes into the siege, two hundred of the eight hundred BOSSes were dead. The pressure was lifting.
"Nina, back off! New bomb incoming!"
A Mindshackled Crimson Bat dove into the pack and detonated. In the confusion, an Abyssal Dreadworm suddenly turned, its massive tentacles crushing its own allies. Ash’s kill count ticked up again.
Brett Fang watched the carnage with envy. "Cap, when do we get a turn for a BOSS kill?"
"You're a Tank, Brett! Sit down," Grant Fang mocked. "Wait your turn. My Skeleton Rangers have better range than you anyway."
"How far?" Ash asked, not looking away from his sights.
"Four-hundred meters," Grant said proudly. "Epic-tier summons, baby. Give me a better bow and I’ll hit five hundred."
Ash scanned the battlefield, his eyes catching a strange anomaly near the front lines. "Grant, see that rock about a hundred meters out? The one that looks like a jagged tooth?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"It’s not a rock. It’s using Guise of Shadows. Hit it with everything you’ve got."
Ash fired a Skybreaker Volley VII to soften it up, holding back just enough.
"Only a Level 170 BOSS? Weak," Grant grumbled, but he commanded his Skeleton Rangers to focus fire. "Why’s a BOSS pretending to be a pebble anyway? That’s a garbage skill."
Grant’s skeletons peppered the 'rock' with arrows.
[System: You have slain the Abyssal Magic Stone!]
Grant froze. "Wait, did I actually get it? Why did my Skeleton Ranger just die? Was there a death-throe skill?"
Ash was equally confused until the golden text of a Planar Broadcast scorched across the sky.
[Planar Broadcast: Player Grant Fang has achieved the World First Kill of the Abyssal Magic Stone. All players in Azure Prime receive +10 to All Stats.]
The ramparts went silent for exactly one second. Then, a roar erupted that drowned out the entire battle.
"Holy shit!" Grant screamed, his voice cracking with pure, unadulterated joy. "Dusk Whitmore, look at me now! I’M THE MAN!"