Chapter 113: Siege at Alabaster Fortress I

Adrian woke up early and helped in preparing their breakfast. He excitedly told his mother that he would be playing with his friends today that was why he was stoked. He logged in by 8:30 am so that they could have an hour or so to catch up since his friends were already there.

Adrian's last save point was the Paradox Planes so he immediately went to the area where there were spatial fractures. Luckily enough there was a spatial fracture located near the fortress. Before Adrian entered the spatial fracture, he used Glamour on himself and polymorph on Kanlaon only this time since there were already summoners who owned wolf like familiars. Even though Sirius is a lot bigger than an ordinary wolf, Adrian could just feign ignorance and tell them he did not notice.

Adrian entered the spatial fracture with his soulbounds and they appeared in a forest near the fortress. Adrian rode Sirius towards the fortress which caught the eyes of several passerby and they started chatting about him.

Mob Player One: Hey! Look at that player over there who is riding a wolf. Can he possibly be from a top guild or maybe a rich kid? His wolf looks cool. Is it a mount? If it is then I want one.

Mob Player Two: In your dreams. I think he is a summoner. Look! He has two more monsters with him that are small.

Mob Player Three: I tried to inspect him but there was viable no information given. His status are full of question marks.

The players who also tried to inspect him had the same reaction and result. They thought that he might be a player with a high level since they are not able to see his status. They did not know that his persona is actually higher than them which is the main reason they could not view his status. There were some but only about two or three persons who were able to view his status due to their unique skills but were not able to pierce the effects of Glamour.

Those handful of individuals were only able to see Adrian's IGN and level. Those individuals also forgot about him since they were higher level than him. It was fortunate enough that they forgot about Adrian because if they did remember him then they might vomit blood when the scoreboard will show up later in the siege.

Adrian was looking for his friends when he got a chat from Levin Cloud.

Levin Cloud: Dude, where are you?

Equinox: I am near the entrance. I am riding on Sirius.

Levin Cloud: We could see you.

Equinox: See me?

Levin Cloud: We are on top of the fortress walls.

Adrian then looked up and saw three people waving their hands at him. They were waving at him while making funny faces at him. Adrian arrived at the fortress gates only to be blocked by the guards. He was then asked for an identification which he actually forgot to get from the adventurers guild. The last time Adrian went inside town was using a portal which is why he was able to move freely because he sneaked inside rather than going inside officially.

Adrian immediately sent a message to Levin Cloud to fetch him from the gate as he could not enter. Thankfully, his three friends already went down the fort wall to go get him. Adrian had an embarrassed look on his face as he felt like a child being escorted by his parents.

"I will take full responsibility for him. I can assure you as a church representative that I can vouch for his identity." Levin Cloud told the guards.

"If the Church of Life representative said so. We are sorry for the inconvenience as we did not know that he was an acquaintance of yours." The gate guards said in a polite tone to Levin Cloud.

What really amazed Adrian though was how the guards addressed his best friend with reverence. The guards were very polite towards him and Adrian also noticed that there were only a limited number of players on top of the fortress wall. He looked at the players on top of the fortress wall and they all had an insignia from the top guilds.

Adrian guessed that these players from the top guilds might be their new recruits and they would use the siege to advance their levels. He could see that the players here were mainly magic classes with only a few melee players which will probably act as their guard if a fight were to break loose near the walls.

Ever since Adrian's horns grew, Saena no longer perched on top of his head which annoyed the little magpie. Peridot who saw the magpie though immediately reached out to it and embraced it as it was plump like a stuffed toy. Kanlaon was clinging to Adrian's shoulder like a lizard so that was what the other players perceive it as.

Kabrakan though told his doubt if the two little soulbounds could help in the fight as they were small. Adrian only chuckled and told him to not doubt Kanlaon as he might swat him the next time he said that. Adrian also told them that Saena is a healer type summon so do not expect a damage output from it because even its basic attacks heal.

The three then planned on what they would do for the rest of the time as that was what the other teams in the fortress were doing. Adrian placed Kanlaon next to Sirius who was sitting on the floor with a relaxed expression. Adrian added Kabrakan and Peridot to his friends list and added to the party. Adrian also told them that he has a double experience booster but it would be gone in about eight hours.

When he told that his three friends all looked at him with slight jealousy as double experience multipliers did not fall from trees. He only shrugged and told them it was a reward for an achievement of his albeit painful. Time passed as they made their necessary arrangements and the battle plans they would do depending on the situation.

Time flew fast and the start of the siege was about to begin. The rowdy bunch at the front of the fortress also calmed down as tension filled the air. There was clear silence and only the rustling of trees in the forest could be heard. Even Adrian was a bit nervous because no player could predict what might happen in a siege.

The worst case scenario would be they would be overrun by the undead and the fortress collapsing. Every player prayed that there would only be low level undead present as they feared that a Lich or death night would be difficult to handle. The siege countdown finally ended but the undead did not show up immediately which made the players wonder if there was an error.

A few seconds later, the scouts finally saw dark clouds rolling in towards the fortress with a deathly aura accompanying it. Even the players doubted that the siege was easy to conquer because undead fighting in broad daylight was suicide or free experience. But now the players were hoping for a way to make the shining sun show itself again as undead in dark areas have double boosts on their stats.

The players then saw two undead marching towards the fortress which made them wonder if that was actually real as it was absurd to think that only two undead could bring forth darkness. The first undead was wearing black plated armor with a spear made of black metal while the second one was wearing a magician's robe and holding a black crystal ball. The players could infer that the warrior type undead was a death night while the mage type undead was a lich.

The lich then rubbed his crystal ball and a black mist started to appear. It was only knee high but the players on the ground could see that it was not simple as it seems.

[You are affected by the dark magic skill 'Dark Mist'. Your healing will be reduced by 50%. Undead that spawn in the area will have a 25% chance to revive. If you die while the Dark Mist is activated, you will become an undead.]

The lich then touched his black crystal ball and a magic circle spread out with the lich in the center. A few seconds later, Skeletons and zombies started spawning from the ground. The bell on the fortress was rung which means that the battle will now officially start as the undead were looming near. The archers on the walls were then surprised as they saw ten skeleton mages and ten skeleton knights beside the lich and death knight respectively.

They immediately told their superiors about the new undead that the lich and death knight spawned. The archers once again looked towards the direction of the lich and death knight only to feel fear because the lich was once again summoning another batch of undead. Ghoulish screams could be heard after the lich finished chanting.

"Report this to the commander immediately. Wraiths have been summoned!" the archer at the observation post told his subordinate.