Silent stood in the position of power inside the fortress command room. It was the eve of battle. 8,000 soldiers belonging to the Plague Baron were camped five miles away from the fortress. Numerous people ran through the fortress making last minute preparations.

Sturdy Willow walked into the command room.

"Has Lucan returned yet?"

"Not yet." Silent answered with a dissatisfied expression. She was getting tired of answering that question so many times every day.

"Our A and B teams are out on contract but the C team and lower can assist you in holding your walls if it comes to it."

"We have people of our own." Silent said as several figures followed her as she left to go to the fortresses wall.

Without having Lucan here it was harder to get in contact with all of the acolytes who drew power from him and his subordinates. To overcome this, she ordered Super and a few of his men to use the livestreaming cameras to broadcast the conflict.

Guild wars were commonplace in the material realm. But with the fact that one of the forces in the conflict this time was an NPC and the war was taking place in an alternate realm, Super though he might be able to get a decent amount of views.

Super and Silent hopped that when Lucan's acolytes saw the coverage of the conflict, they would come and help out.

Super had been filming half the day as both sides prepared to clash. Already, players were funneling in. The teleporter in the fortress was only allowing acolytes of Lucan and his subordinates into the fortress. The Goblin Crushers and the Windy Willow organization were not able to come. In real life, Brax had told Jenna that he didn't completely trust either group, so she wanted to deal with this using only their own forces.

With 15,000 soldiers and 1,000 players who had responded to the call, it wasn't entirely hopeless since they were in the defending position.

The Plague Baron had a horde of 20,000 undead in the front of his force. Following behind was 8,000 soldiers and 3,000 players.

Even though the Baron had more players and NPCs, Silent was confident in Lucan's arrangements. She was aware that her husband had learned a powerful lesson about being betrayed and being prepared for any situation. At times she found his paranoia to be a bit over the top, but today she was thankful that he had always assumed and planned for the worst.

She stood at the top of the fortress walls with Commander Gear, Major General Santine, and Lucan's steward Oar. Sturdy wasn't far behind, he wanted to see how things would go.

The past few days Silent had been so busy that she didn't even notice that it had been awhile since she last saw the goblin More Food.

As the sun set on the distant horizon a clamber of marching bodies echoed across the plain before the fortress.

The undead horde was on the move. It was only minutes until they were in sight.

A sea of undead zombies and ghouls rushed towards the fortress walls.

"Aniketos!" Silent called out.

A black barrier started to take shape around the fortress. Rising from the ground, dense shadows strengthen by telekinetic energy formed a dome to protect the stronghold.

Silent was feeling nervous. Now that it was time to act she found herself doubting all the preparations that they had made. She wished that Lucan was here. She much preferred acting as his shadow and letting him deal with the stress she was currently experiencing.

"Have the archers and mages prepare." She said to Major General Santine.

4,000 archers stepped towards the edge of the fortress wall. In between every 50 archers stood a magic wielder. They readied their weapons and waited for the command to attack.

The players in the fortress eagerly waited for the showdown to begin.

A voice boomed from the Plague Baron's camp. "Lucan Quilldrake. Surrender yourself and withdraw your forces from the shadow realm or meet destruction!"

Silent gave a nod to a nearby mage. The shadow elf magically enhanced Silent's voice for her.

"ALL THOSE WHO ATTEMPT TO INVADE THE TERRITORY OF LUCAN QUILLDRAKE WILL DIE!!!!!"

A player in the camp of the Plague Baron Activated a tablet of war on the Baron's command.

Every player deemed to be involved in the conflict by Evolutions main system received a notification.

[A war has begun. Players involved will experience the penalty for death doubled and will not be able to revive at a graveyard until six hours have passed from their time of death. Reputation gains will be increased for killing enemies of the opposing force.]

The players on both sides became riled up. The fastest way to earn large amount of reputation was to do well in war. Every player had a chance to increase their status by serving their faction well. This was a chance to change their lives in the game.

The undead were sprinting straight towards the barrier that separated the fortress walls from the outside. Thousands of bodies and limbs smashed into the fortress's protection with a loud bang.

Silent gave a nod to Major General Santine.

"FIRE!!!"

Arrows and spells rained down on the crowd below.

Silent couldn't let them continue to attack the barrier. It only had a limited amount of health before it shattered. Under the constant assault of the undead, it wouldn't last the night. The formation it was made from still hadn't had enough time to grow into its full potential.

The players in the fortress eagerly moved towards the gates of the wall. They were itching to get out into the action. Many players had formed groups of five or ten and planned to go out together. There were very few single players who were prepared to fight on the front lines. But one in particular couldn't wait any longer. MILOCARA had been promised 50 gold a day and another 5 gold for every regular enemy he killed.

Not waiting for the order, he leapt off the fortress wall, directly into the horde of the undead.

*Bang*

He landed in a group of zombies who shattered into broken pieces of ice under the impact. He took a martial arts stance as zombies turned towards him. With a sweeping leg kick his icy powers froze their festering dead limbs. Unleashing a barrage of rapid-fire fists, he pummeled everything around him.

The zombies were closing in around him fast. The archers above did their best to try to keep them off of MILOCARA, but it wasn't looking good. They cursed the idiot who jumped in too early.

MILOCARA originally started the game as a monk, through a chance encounter with a rare treasure he had infused ice into his soul. His martial arts abilities now contained a deadly frost as he had become a cryomancer. While others saw him as an idiot for jumping into the horde early, MILOCARA himself was used to be outnumbered and overwhelmed. It was his everyday life.

Cold energy gathered in his hands as two axes formed from the ice in his palms. He quickly spun and decapitated every undead within 4 feet of him. Without waiting for the zombies and ghouls to close in on him, he slid forward on a sled made of ice as he plunged further into the crowd, hacking and severing anything that came near him.

Seeing his bold display, the other players could no longer contain themselves. They charged out to meet the undead. The players helped alleviate some of the pressure on the barrier but 1,000 players against a horde of over 20,000 undead made only a little difference.

"ROOAAARRRR!!!!!"

A silver dragon with a tinge of blue rose into the air from the center of the castle. It flew out of the barrier and unleashed a rain of mithril spikes on the undead. Flying around the barrier while unleashing its breath attack, Aniketos joined the battle.

Mithril spears pierced into the ground, destroying the undead directly in front of the barrier. The metal spike separated the ghouls from the barrier. They would have to charge over the sharp pieces of mithril to get to it.

***

In the main camp of the Plague Baron's forces, the Baron himself sat in a tent and watched a projection of how the battle was going.

"Ah, so it appears that Lucan having a dragon to defend his fortress was more than just a rumor." The Baron said. "No matter, we prepared for this. Send him the special present that we prepared."

"Yes sir, right away." An attendant replied before rushing out of the tent.

The attendant ran to a transportation formation to command the soldiers guarding it to activate the formation.

They infused magic into the circle carved into the ground.

A portal was opened that stretched high into the sky. A foot stepped through first. The foot was already larger than the biggest tent inside the camp. The rest of the being followed shortly after.

Standing over 200 feet tall, with bulging muscles and a greatsword taller than him on his back, a true giant exited the portal.

The Plague Baron exited his tent and stood before the giant.

"Hieguard, as our deal states, destroy the fortress ahead and demolish those who would oppose me and I will set you free, you can roam the world as you like after you finish this last mission."

Hiegaurd the giant snorted and nodded before looking towards the fortress in the distance. Seeing the giant race's natural enemy, a dragon, laying siege to the undead horde, a blaze of furry appeared in his eyes.

Taking the large sword, he exited the camp with a single large stride.

"RAAGGGHHHH!!!!!" The giant bellowed as he ran towards the dragon.