Chapter 328: The Siege and the Defense
The barrier of the Golden City only covers a tiny bit of the place.
The city walls stretch a hefty fifty meters wide, but only the innermost ten meters bask in the comforting glow of the barrier. The outer forty? Well, that’s the battleground, baby!
All attacks get blocked by the barrier, but humans can waltz right through without a care in the world.
In simpler terms: even if you get close to the Golden City, the walls are the first line of defense, the folks on the walls are the second, and only then do you have the barrier hanging out.
Sure, you could try to rain down attacks from the sky on the barrier, but only a handful of monsters have that kind of game. If any do, they become priority targets that need taking down ASAP!
For now, the main concern is the flying monsters and those nifty little crawlers scaling the walls.
The first wave of flying monsters? No biggie! Most of ’em ended up as monster snack before they even got close. The few that made it to the barrier barely did any damage when they crashed into it—thank you low stats!
Then, poof! Players took care of the leftovers in a jiffy.
The barrier has a durability of one hundred million, and right now, it’s lost less than ten thousand. Players tossing energy crystals at it can help replenish a handful to maybe a dozen durability points—better than nothing, right?
But wait, that was just the warm-up act!
More waves of flying monsters are sneaking in from every direction. Meanwhile, the ground troops are reluctantly retreating, stuck between a rock and a hard place.
The ground monsters? They’re in numbers that eclipse what’s up in the air—hundreds of thousands to millions, to be exact.
Now the Golden City is surrounded, shrouded in a sea of darkness, with sand getting buried deeper than a bad pun. This ain’t a beach party; it’s a rampaging horde of monsters eager to swallow any life that sticks its head in.
With this mess, players keep hustling back, shrinking their safe zone from twenty kilometers to ten, then pounding it down to five. But oh boy, they can’t go any further—behind them lies their precious Golden City.
And so begins the second phase of the defense battle.
With a loud command, all the city gates slam shut.
No one goes out, and definitely no one comes in.
As they glance back at the walls and their teammates up there, they realize: those folks are just the early birds who licked the dust, heading home earlier than everyone else.
Soon, they’ll be stepping out again, ready to dive back into battle, side by side with their comrades.
Wanna d*e? Naturally, it’s a big fat no!
Even though it’s a game, d*ath feels awfully real here.
But everyone’s a part of this d*ath lottery—no escape for anyone.
The only difference now? How many monsters you can take down before meeting your end and whether you can boast about it later like a champ.
“Everyone! Wait for the monsters to get close, and be ready to charge at any moment!”
Simultaneously, a unified command rings from the walls.
“Everyone prepare! Support below so our teammates can let loose without a care!”
The roars of monsters and their stomping serve as the background music for this chaotic stage, while magical flares and explosive clouds add a decorative flair.
And the cries of charge and heroic silhouettes? That’s the main spectacle of this wild show.
Title of this act? “Embrace d*ath Without a Thought for Survival.”
But you know how it goes—glory is fleeting; the hero’s bow always comes way too quick.
In a mere thirty minutes, the hundreds of thousands outside are devoured by a wave of millions, if not tens of millions, of monsters.
When it comes to straight-up confrontation, players can’t compete with the sheer number or individual strength of the monsters. Surviving a half-hour? That’s a major accomplishment!
After six hours of this chaos, the monster army finally makes its official charge against the Golden City.
They slam into the gates and the walls.
But guess what? That tactic’s a total bust!
As the royal city of the Golden Kingdom, the Golden City can withstand divine-level attacks like a champ.
Even after countless years of erosion, these pesky little critters won’t shake it!
What these little pests can manage is gnawing at the barrier, bit by bit, trying to find a breach.
Once the barrier busts, only then can they mingle in civilly.
And guess what? The monsters have figured out how to clamber up those walls!
The ones in back use the ones in front as stepping stones, trampling the weak. Who cares if they squish a few? They’ve got plenty more where those came from!
But the defenders atop those walls aren’t about to let them have their way.
In this siege battle, the monsters are piling up, making it ridiculous easy for any shot to hit a big group.
They could fire their abilities blindfolded, no regard for where the firepower lands.
Out come the goodies: potions, spell scrolls, corrosive liquids, and even bombs!
During the first three days of the Golden City siege, players racked up loads of cash and made countless trips back and forth between the main city and the Golden City, cleaning out shops there and emptying warehouses.
Who cares what’s useful or not? Just buy it all!
Meanwhile, the Golden City opened its own vault, offering whatever they could give without breaking a sweat.
All facilities and supplies during the fight? Totally free!
Now, players are more focused on just smashing stuff into oblivion!
They’re finding their groove, tossing stuff at the densest monster crowds.
Oh, that one looks hefty? Here’s a bomb straight for its face!
The little monster hills are getting blown apart as groups topple in heaps.
And would you believe it? In the vicinity of the Golden City, the rate at which the fallen monsters disappear is bizarrely fast!
When outside, even the slightly larger monsters would take a few seconds to vanish completely. Here? It’s like they hit the ground and—poof—gone!
Players are none the wiser, but Yuliya sees it all—the special energy pooling toward the Golden City.
This whole restoration ritual is a race against the monsters to grab that energy.
The energy leaking from the Golden City is being absorbed by the monsters and the environment, and now the city is using its formations to reel it back in.
If they succeed, a big chunk of energy will be stripped away from this desert, making it as ordinary as a bland corn dish. The Jade Emperor Kingdom wouldn’t even need to worry about this spot.
But if they fail, the Golden City will be demolished and split between the monsters and the desert. They’d come out even stronger, and the northern borders of the Jade Emperor Kingdom would be left quaking in their boots.
So for the sake of themselves and the Jade Emperor Kingdom, this battle allows for winning, not allowing for losses.
Initially, Yuliya stood back, but seeing everyone hurling themselves into the fray made her feet itch to join.
“Your Highness! Don’t get too close! It’s dangerous!” someone shouted.
“It’s fine! I’ll be careful. I know my limits. I can’t just stand here and watch!”
As long as she doesn’t step outside the range of the Golden City, the ritual can keep rolling.
Though she said that, the officers on the walls still signaled four to stay near her, ready for anything.
Yuliya gazed down, her pupils shimmering with a faint golden hue.
There are just too many monsters—she’s not wasting her time on the regular ones. She needs to target the higher-level, stronger ones.
A target locked, finger pointed.
A level 34 monster froze mid-move, thrashing a bit, then slowly collapsed, vanishing into thin air.
With a swift turn of her head, she points at a gigantic scorpion, nearly ten meters tall.
The scorpion’s climbing motion halted, then it too tipped over, squashing a bunch of monsters below in a comical pile!
