Azimuth: The Elden Throne (New Version)

Chapter 259 The Hanging Gardens Part 7

This is the start of more action.

Enjoy!

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/Somewhere in the main Plaza…/

"... Now that we are all here… Which activity are we choosing?" Ermin asked as he looked at everyone at the table

"Hard to say... I've been scrolling through the options, but honestly, I don't know." Eleonora replied as she shook her head

"Anything's fine isn't it?" Erminia replied with a yawn as she rested her head on her hands

"..."

Dale, on the other hand, remained silent as he looked at the System window in front of him.

'There are too many options…' He thought silently as he looked through the list

The way Babylon's Events worked was simple.

You sit down at one of the many tables within a room's main Plaza before activating a  terminal attached to every single table, that is how you get access to the Event Activity list.

From there, you choose what you want to do together with its difficulty before accepting the task, done, from there, you just have to come back.

Some activities did have further choices to make, such as PVP.

There was 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, and so on, all the way to even 100v100. 

There was also 1vMany, for those who really want a challenge.

Not to mention all of the extra modifiers such as Arena-Style combat, open environment combat, and other forms of competition such as 100M run, Fishing, Spear throw, Etc.

PvP can also extend all the way to siege defense and any activity there has two sides or any form of room for competition, and that's only for PvP.

PvE options are much broader.[1]

"How about this one." Dale proposed as he chose an activity

[Castle Mayhorn's last stand (Standard)

  Category: Siege Defense

  Rating: 2-Star

  Specifications: Maximum of 4 players

  Base reward: 7500 Favor (Individual)

]

Everything in its description was self-explanatory, but for context, the Category signified the type of mission, and it also contained the version of that mission, being its actual difficulty.

The Rating was the overall difficulty, either of the enemies they would face or the situation they would be thrown at, a reflection of the version they choose.

Because if you select 'Hard' Mode or 'Hell' mode, it's much simpler to understand the difficulty as being 4-Star and 6-Star respectively, though, of course, different missions have different standards.

To face an army of 100 Cavalry atop a mountain and atop an open field were two different things, even though their strength remains the same.

Specifications are extra requirements the mission can impose upon the platers, from Time constraints to Extra Sub-Missions, and from even Level limits to Item restrictions, it could be anything.

The conditions to succeed at a given task were usually given on sight, though it should be obvious what they were meant to do, at least in this given case.

Same for the rewards, as proven by many players before, every activity had a base reward, but it was easy to acquire more by performing exceptionally or by uncovering secrets during a mission.

In the case of a Siege, perfectly defending the Castle could be one such bonus task, taking out the enemy commander could be another for example.

And of course, some missions had penalties for failure, together with initial costs to even participate in it, and many times, those were presented at the same time.

You ought to give away something to fish out a bigger reward…

All of this together barely scratched the surface of the total Events, it was no wonder most players were restricted to Class 1 at first, otherwise, they would all be overwhelmed.

"Siege? Aren't those missions kind of long?" Erminia asked as she read through the mission

"Depends on how we act. If we stand our ground and wait, then yes, it'll take very long, that's why the reward is rather high for its rank, since we'll likely be staying still to protect the Castle." Ermin added as he tapped on the table

"But we don't need to wait." He said with a smile as he looked at Dale

"..."

Dale smiled as well, but due to his helmet, it was very hard to see his expression.

"It seems like you have a plan, I'm willing to give it a try anyway."

"Great, I chose this one specifically for its simplicity… But also because there's something I have to share with you all." Dale said as he changed his tone

"In the shop I… Received a Hidden Quest of sorts. In simple terms, I got the chance to buy items at a great discount… But in exchange, every task I take will be raised to its highest difficulty."

"We're likely going to go through severe difficulties, so I wanted to share this first before we started, and that it's okay if you all wish to leave."

""...""

"Does this mean better rewards?" The older sister asked with a small smile as she turned to Dale

"Huh? I mean, definitely, we'll be playing at the highest difficulty, which for this mission is…"

[Castle Mayhorn's last stand (Reenactment)

  Category: Siege Defense

  Rating: 4.5-Star

  Specifications: Maximum of 4 players

  Base reward: 100000 Favor (Total)

]

'Hum... This should be enough as a trial test.'

'I wanted to use the seeds but... It would be too rash to test them without even having the ground for comparison as to how harder they can make one of these activities become.'

"Damn… Look at that booty!" Eleonora said out loud as her eyes opened a little

"Sis… You're letting your bad habits show again…" Erminia said with an awkward expression as she shook her sister's shoulder

"May I ask for one more favor? Would it be possible for me to stream this?" Dale asked as he looked at them

"Stream? You're a streamer?" Erminia asked with an interested gaze, her eyes sparkling

"Yes… I've made an account recently, I wasn't planning on streaming much but mostly recording things, so if you're unwilling for one, that is also an option, though of course, if you're unwilling for both I can…"

But Dale was interrupted by a light chuckle before he could finish his words:

"Not a problem for me… Although would it be possible to hide my face? I'm not very photogenic." Eleonora said as she manifested a mirror in front of her face

"Same for me! I'm… Not yet ready to show my face live…" She replied shyly, a bit embarrassed

It seemed the sisters had no problem being recorded, though it was something else for their faces to be shown...[2]

"See? We're all in agreement with whatever you want… My only concern is if we can even do…" Ermin said as he looked at Dale

[DING]

"... It... Shit."

[You have accepted the mission, moving to…]

Ermin was interrupted by his younger sister who immediately pressed the [Accept] button.

"TSK! Why did they let normal party members accept Quests on the party leader's behalf?!" Ermin complained as his body slowly turned into light

"Meh!" His younger sister replied as she stuck out her tongue for him

"#!!"

'I knew she would cause trouble eventually, she was too well-behaved before!'

"..."

Dale watched this short exchange with a calm expression, smiling on the inside.

'Their relationship doesn't look that bad… Well, I should start preparing for the stream.'

And with a short exchange with the older sister, they all vanished.

…

/Just a moment after…/

/HORNS!/

""HAUU!""

/FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! FLASH!/

Atop the walls of a magnificent castle, an army of relatively well-armed soldiers stood side by side, hauling strongly as they hit the bottom of the spears against the solid stone blocks that composed the wall.

They seemed to be about 1000, not counting the 'Extras', soldiers that didn't really look like ones, likely common people drafted to fight during an emergency.

In front of them, a man with a long red cape stood, he had a fierce expression and a strong build like that of a warrior.

This man was…

"Lord Mayhorn! The reinforcements have arrived!" One of the soldiers spoke out loud as he pointed at the place Dale and company had just manifested into this strange place that reeked of iron.

"Hm?..."

Mayhorn slowly turned around to look at them, his expression heavy.

/TAP!/

As if having trained for this, both Dale and Ermin slammed their fists against their chests as they greeted the Lord.

""SIR!"" They spoke at once, leaving the two girls extremely confused as they looked around in wonder

"Hum… Only a small party? What happened to the rest of the reinforcement?" Lord Mayhorn asked as he raised his left hand to Dale

"..."

Ermin said nothing, only giving him a side glance.

He was pretty much giving all authority to Dale, the sole Hardcore Player of the group.

[DING]

[Siege Defence Mission, START!] The System said out loud to all four of them

[Welcome to Castle Mayhorn! A place of prosperity and peace!... At least, it used to be like that in the past…]

[Around two years ago, Barbarians from the Extreme South started their invasion, diving onto the peaceful plains of Labole County!]

[Despite their great defenses under the expert command of Lord Mayhorn, his troops were still pushed back to the center of his land, his very castle!]

[Defend Castle Mayhorn until reinforcements arrive!]

[Time until the main army arrives: 59 Min, 58 sec…]

"... They coming." Dale said in a respectful tone 

"We were sent first as we were more mobile." He lied without a care in the world

"How long?..."

"At most an hour."

"... They must be crossing the Dragon's throat bridge by now then… Alright." He said with a pensive expression as he looked into the distance

"Join the others, you're now under my direct command!"

""Yes, Sir!"" Dale and Ermin said at the same time

Mayhorn did not say much after that, turning his back to them as he returned to his main duty, leading the soldiers, leaving the four of them to do as they wished.

"... What happened?" Erminia asked as she scratched her head

"You two were oddly in synch… Did you two train for this without telling us?" Eleonora asked with a light smile

"It's just standard procedure when dealing with these types of Quests, as regardless of who you are and accomplished, the last thing you want is to strain your relationship with the locals." Ermin replied as he turned to the side, the plains outside of the castle

"That happened more than once..." Dale said as he remembered the past

"In any case… Enough chit-chat, they're coming." 

...

Far in the fields, a great army could be seen waiting atop a hill, far from the range of the bows and the artillery of the Castle.

They seemed to be around 3 thousand strong, and they contained all kinds of siege weapons, from large Siege Towers to even things that looked like Trebuchets on wheels.

From here, they could inspect the Levels of some of the soldiers, and they ranged from Level 15 for foot soldiers to 25 for some of the Barbarians, those were bigger and stronger, and they wore armor made of a mix of bone and leather.

Some even went beyond 30!

"Urg… I don't think this will be easy…" Erminia said as she looked below

"No shit… This was my biggest fear you know… But despite its difficulty, there should be a way to clear this." Ermin pointed out with his arms crossed 

"Our wall looks strong and we're atop a hill, we have a few advantages, but our biggest problem is those siege weapons, if they get close it's over."

"Maybe we can..."

/Mumble.../

Ermin started mumbling, thinking of how they would overturn this fight to their favor...

"..."

/Step…/

"Dale?"

That was until Dale started to move.

While they argued over the strength of their enemy, Dale took a step forward, holding his weapon on his back, a simple red sword with jagged edges.

[Fang of the Red Wyvern (Unique)]

One of the Red Wyvern drops he exchanged for, and although it wasn't part of the main set he used, it was thematic enough, while the Skills it possessed matched those of the Set to some extent.

And of the other Epic weapons he acquired during his expedition, one was a pair of gauntlets, which he couldn't use, the other was a giant shield, and the last one was a pair of daggers, not really his main weapon of choice.

"... What are you doing…?!"

'He isn't planning on actually taking their commander is he?!'

'I know this is the usual tactic but this time...'

/JUMP!/

Without hesitation, Dale jumped into the skies as he ignored the cries of his companions, rushing into the army head-on without any qualms about his safety!

But he had no fear, he had experienced worse.

To top that off, from the moment he stepped into this place, his items activated.

Every second, his armor grew hotter as it stacked Heat continuously…

On his right hand, his cursed bracelet vibrated, clouding his mind with fog… Growing stronger by the minute…

On each of his hands, a red and a blue ring shone in faint light, unleashing their powers.

And from his heart to his hand, a torrent of energy poured into his sword, making it shine in resplendent light.

/SLASH!/

In the skies above the Barbarian Army, Dale swung his sword down.

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Notes

Thank you for reading, peace!

[1] PvP -> Player VS Player.

PvE -> Player VS Environment.

[2] This came out badly bruh...