War Grounds 36 March Of Corpses

The shriek of the humanoid fireflies echoed through the melancholic night in the graveyard's left lane.

Ack!

Meanwhile, Embers' character coughed in pain as he got slashed in the neck by Udil. 15% of the former's HP was instantly gone.

...

In exchange for better coordination between the brains of the players and their in-game characters, 'Battle Stations', the console used in War Grounds offered a customizable pain-sensitivity toggle. This meant that the higher the pain, the more synchronized were the player's brain waves with their virtual movements. Conversely, the lower the pain, the slower and more rigid were the virtual reactions.

The developers of War Grounds have conducted multiple studies regarding pain management. After years of careful research, they managed to find out the sliver edge that separated the harmful and helpful pain.

According to their research, the human brain and pain were correlated to a certain degree. An accurate measure of pain tolerance was needed to allow the human mind to break through its limits gradually. The sting should be painful, but not harmful to allow for radical growth and development - tolerable torture in short!

...

Embers just happened to maximize the pain sensitivity in his gaming helmet. He immediately gritted his teeth in the real world as he felt the barely tolerable sting in his neck. 'Arghhh!' The boy inside Burning Orient's training camp screamed in pain in his station, as he received successive hits back in the virtual world.

The berserk skill, 'Rave,' only lasted for five seconds, and Udil's MP was steadily decreasing due to the activation of 'Piston Lungs,' which imbued all his attacks with the fire element. After hitting Embers in the neck, the Divine Mage was stunned for 1.5 seconds. Al immediately made the most out of that brief period to deal as much damage as he could. The 'Firefly Oil' boosted his attacks.

40% of JanuaryEmbers' total HP was taken away by Udil before the former was relieved from the stun.

Fire Bomb!

A swelling fireball suddenly emerged out of Embers' pestle-like staff; he was retaliating! The skill immediately exploded upon hitting Udil at point-blank distance.

Embers borrowed the force from the explosion. He immediately jumped back to get away from the latter as soon as possible. However, the figure of Udil quickly emerged from the billowing flames, completely unscathed. The 'Firefly Oil' granted him immunity against all sorts of fire-oriented damages.

"!" It was all that Embers had managed to send through their group chat as he once again helplessly took the brunt of the wild slashes brought about by Udil's 'Rave.'

"d.a.m.n!" Meanwhile, in the mid lane, Pilades cursed after reading the distress signal from Embers in their team chat. In front of him, Zaito was currently pinned down inside the Skull Tower's attack range by Papa Bear's sudden appearance. The a.s.sistance coming from CancerIsLife and the presence of the red fireflies were further making it difficult for the Divine Magician to regroup with the Divine Vanguard. After a bit of hesitation, he chose to save the nearest ally.

Boba, the Divine Swordsman, just happened to arrive in the middle lane, too, when he read the call for a.s.sistance from Embers. However, it was too late for him to return now. He immediately coordinated with Pilades upon a.s.sessing the situation and took the aggro of the turret.

The 5% HP recovery per second that the members of Burning Orient got from 'Angel's Blessing' allowed them to ignore the fireflies somehow.

Zaito finally managed to get a breather. The sudden charge by Papa Bear, when he turned into a streak of lightning had caught him off guard.

He previously tried dodging the attack, but it still connected. The strike sent him flying towards the deeper area of the enemy's territory. As a consequence, he found himself dealing with the bone spears thrown by the skull tower, the relentless pounding of Papa Bear, the basic magic attacks sent out by CancerIsLife's wooden ankh, and the pestering skeleton creeps.

Now that Boba and Pilades came to rescue him, Zaito finally found the opportunity to type in the group chat. "What's the situation there in the left lane? Don't engage for now, and retreat! Send an update ASAP!" He was getting a bad feeling about the remaining player that was yet to reveal himself. "Retreat! We're employing the battle-of-attrition tactic. Tower-hug everyone, until we're sure of our enemies! Move!"

Embers was still not able to reply.

Upon the instruction of Zaito, Pilades dived deeper into the Skull Tower's attack range. He could see their team captain now, who was busy finding an escape route from the pincer attacks of the orc and skeleton creatures.

Iron Wall!

Pilades slammed his two spiky bucklers on the ground. An impa.s.sable iron wall suddenly appeared from the ground where Papa Bear was standing, separating him from Zaito and causing him to lose balance.

An opening!

Zaito immediately seized it. His 'Magical s.p.a.ce' was still in cooldown, and he had already replaced his other teleport skill with an offensive one. He got no better choice, but to escape on foot.

"I've retreated now. The last player has a hidden cla.s.s!!! He seemed to be a swordsman!!! His name is Udil!" One could feel that Embers was just barely catching his breath when he sent out the message in the team chat.

Udil.

Zaito could not forget that name; his premonition was correct. They have met again!

Meanwhile, on the bottom lane, SwitchFoot and Macca were busy ridding themselves of the red fireflies and dealing with the creep waves. Although Zhahk was not affected by the insects, due to his HP's rapid recovery, he was not still able to hold his ground against the Goblin Ranger and Savage a.s.sa.s.sin's coordinated attacks. "They're good." He conceded as he remained in his turret's protective range while waiting for further instructions from Zaito.

If not for Zaito's instruction to retreat, Embers would have dared to contest against Udil. However, when he found his HP rapidly decreasing in chunks despite his 5% recovery per second, he finally found it logical to retreat in the meantime. He immediately activated his blink skill and ran back to his tower.

The battle stabilized after the brief clash and showdown in each lane. Creeps of skeleton creatures and humanoid fireflies kept on sp.a.w.ning and clas.h.i.+ng against each other, with the aid of the players.

It was a stalemate for the next two minutes.

Aside from the destroyed tower in the left lane, no one had made significant progress in pus.h.i.+ng the other paths.

In addition, the players in the map were starting to adapt to the pestering presence of the red fireflies. All they needed to do was to keep moving. However, it was pretty tiring, especially for the members of WisDOOM, who could not afford to tank the 1% True Damage per three seconds coming from the red fireflies.

The battle of attrition was slowly tilting towards the favor of Burning Orient. Their HPs were now back in full due to 'Angel's Blessing.'

'It's about time.'

"It's about time."
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At the sixth-minute mark of the match, Al and Zaito share the same thought; however, the latter expressed it in the chat, while the former had just muttered it to himself.

"All mid! Time to end this! Don't mind the towers in the left and right lane. Reserve your ultimate skills." Zaito sent the message to his team.

Meanwhile, Al could still remember the next feature of the map - the march of corpses!

Out of nowhere, one by one, dozen of corpses cloaked in black emerged from the ground and surrounding tombs.

"What's happening?!" Pilades immediately took the defensive stance as corpses surrounded him, Boba, and Zaito. "Why are their creeps increasing in number?!"

"No. Look! It's a map feature. The other side is also under attack!" Boba remarked.

The ground in the middle lane further shook. A ma.s.sive skeletal arm emerged from the fissure; a colossal corpse of what looked-like as Grim Reaper. He was holding an enormous scythe with his left hand and a black book, on the other hand - the 'Black Bible'!