Chapter 257 Never-Ending Horde



The battle started in utter chaos, as Astaroth lunged into the oncoming enemies. Phoenix had planned that if they were ambushed, he would be their best bet at reducing pressure on them, since he could act alone for a while.

Whenever he started getting low on health, he would double back to his allies, receiving heals from both I'die and Silent, and then run back away. This reduced the number of enemies assaulting Gulnur, reducing pressure on the group.

Since Phoenix had made I'die create barriers around them, the only way to the back or middle line was through Gulnur. He was a great tank and could handle pressure, but there was always a limit.

Astaroth's job was to take away as many enemies as he could. And it was going alright for now, but he had many brushes with death.

Although Astaroth was extremely powerful when melded, being assaulted on all sides by level fifty monsters was still dangerous. By the time his meld with White ended, he had almost died three times already.

He melded with Morpheus next, launching into the air. He knew the pressure would increase on Gulnur by doing this, but he had another method of helping.

Astaroth flew back to the little stone enclave I'die had created, and stopped over Gulnur. He re-summoned White Death, setting him next to Gulnur, as an off-tank, and started slaying everything that came near.

His sudden added damage in that area meant that the monsters dropped much faster. But he couldn't stay in one spot either.

Some monsters were climbing the sides of the rock walls I'die had formed, and soon, they would climb over them and into the party. Astaroth acted as a mobile defence turret, firing spells left and right, taking down the enemies that were trying to climb into their safe zone.

Phoenix was analyzing every monster that charged at them, making sure that everyone that found weak points shared them with the rest of the group, while also checking her minimap.

She had thought at first this would be a wave defence, but she was proven wrong. The monsters didn't come at them in waves, but as a constant flow.

She knew that at this pace, they would tire themselves out before all the monsters were down. And since this wasn't a dungeon, and there was no graveyard close, dying would be catastrophic.

They had many options available to help them here, but they all came with downsides. If Phoenix and Violette started using massive AOEs, they would be weakened for the next phase, the boss fight.

Another option they had was to abandon their defence mode and go for a kiting style. But then, they would waste their three melee members.

There was also no telling if the boss would come after them, either. Since this wasn't a dungeon, he wasn't confined to a specific room, after all.

Astaroth's melding with Morpheus ended, signalling he had to go back to his first role. He melded with Luna, summoning Morpheus and ordering him to keep clearing the walls.

He immediately used Moonlit Sanctuary, giving a moment of respite to Silent, and an opportunity to I'die to do some damage. They both nodded to him as he dashed back out into the fray.

Astaroth wouldn't have as much natural healing while melded with Luna as with White, but his stats were also much higher. This effectively reduced the instances where he took damage and reduced the damage he took in those instances.

The overall upgrade was great for him to keep distracting as many monsters as he could manage. He weaved and ran through the monster horde, inflicting as much damage as he could.

His new weapon was of great help to him, as the extra damage rapidly piled, resulting in faster takedowns. Astaroth kept wishing he had got this weapon earlier.

There were many instances where Ad Astra's damage would have helped him. But that was just wishful thinking.

With his very large mana pool, while melding with Luna, Astaroth decided to experiment with the new weapon. He started changing the weapon's form as the battle flowed around him.

When there were too many enemies, he would transform it into a halberd or spear, pushing the enemies back with the extra range. When he had enough breathing room, he would switch it to daggers, dashing madly across the enemies.

He noticed that Ad Astra would split into more than one, if the weapon he envisioned was a set weapon. This made him ecstatic, since he enjoyed using daggers, too.

The only thing that disappointed him was that he couldn't morph it into a shield. He had tried during the fight, envisioning a shortsword and shield, but had ended up with only a shortsword.

'I guess even an artifact has its limitations.'

Astaroth monitored the party window, making sure that Gulnur was never in over his head. For now, things seemed alright, but he noticed another issue.

He couldn't see an end to the monster horde yet, and that didn't bother him much. But some of his teammates were rapidly tiring out.

Silent had a limited pool of mana, and even with his new passive, Nature's Respite, his mana regen was not enough to keep up with the intense healing on Gulnur. His mana was dwindling.

Morticia was in an even worse situation, since she didn't look like she had any mana regen. Although her mana pool seemed deeper than Silent's, it was still draining out much quicker.

He needed to find a way to ease their situation. Astaroth knew Phoenix was probably thinking about the same thing.

They had already slain hundreds of monsters, and yet, it seemed like the end was nowhere in sight. Astaroth could see monsters pouring at them from everywhere, and the red dots on his minimap kept multiplying.

He came to the same conclusion as Phoenix. At this rate, they would end up dying without making it past the entrance.

'Something needs to change. And fast.'