Peter’s third floor defenses once again found themselves insufficient. Hundreds of C tier stone beetles poured through the opening before burrowing as soon as they exited the platform as mages protected them. Like a real life version of a cartoon the stone floor buckled up as they moved various tunnels forward. It was a far slower advance, but the beetles were well protected as soon as they got into their tunnels. They spread forward in all directions like a crack spreading on glass or ice. Soon beetles ruptured out of the ground when they got close to an enemy unit's position. Most were able to quickly overpower the enemy C tiers and drag them back toward their burrow with their mandibles.
Peter could not believe it. This should be something he would expect next year. Perhaps Stone Golem had faced a beetle type core during the tutorial, or perhaps he just traded for it. Regardless, Peter was beyond annoyed. The guy was using a different assault method for each floor. His forces were finding it difficult to resist, let alone counter. All while his own assault force found itself bogged down dealing with more than ten thousand defenders a floor.
From the look of things, the Stone golem core wanted to operate his defenses much like Allister the tombstone core had. He had tried to have Elites, mainly mages, stay near the exit retreating to safety floor after floor, but Krista had denied the attempt. Along with her B tiers who each wielded spiked maces in lieu of the swords at their sides, she easily led them through the enemies air defenses and intercepted the elites. The sky gnomes and tempest fowls helped keep the enemy air units and defenders at bay, as Krista and the archangels hounded the elite mage, whose retreat had started far too late. Peter had thought that Krista would not prove as useful in this battle, but her forces had just moved to remove the potential of dozens of A of B tier mages.
The downside was that the archangels were really paying for it, practically every second another would be struck out of the sky. It eventually paid off. They cracked through the magic shields and moved in for the final kills. A good 60 to 70 archangels had been lost, but they had taken out several dozen B tier mages and at least 8 A tiers. Not a terrible trade since the mages would have exacted a far higher toll throughout a prolonged battle. Once done the angels separated from the ground to join in on the fight in the sky.
Peter’s defenses on the third had pulled back once again, ceding the floor. Apparently, his opponent could not just continue pulling new tricks to keep the defenders from being able to respond. They entered the fourth with a little bit of everything, rock beetles, landslide slimes, and aerial gargoyles. They found themselves facing a bunch of nonmoving turtles and hammer wielding infantry all clustered in the initial chamber, with the S tier chilled glacier turtle sitting front and center.
Ice blasts lanced forward even as enemy units entered the S tier’s frozen domain. Peter had thought revealing the ice turtles against a swarm of insects would be a good day view. He guessed he would just have to settle for these rock beetles. It worked remarkably well. The S tier’s domain forced most enemies to both sides, and hundreds of B tier chilled turtles kept up a barrage of ice blast attacks. Gargoyles were struck midair before plummeting down to smash themselves on the stone floor.
Spectral soldiers, ghastly soldiers, and Skeletal wraith knights stood amongst the cold less affected than the other units types. They mostly wielded maces or hammers to physically stop units. The more hearty and versatile turtle gnome warriors occupied the flanks to both sides pushing enemy units right back toward the central S tier turtle.
Glenda had organized a pretty effective counter. This time it was the opponents who found it difficult to cope. They tried to send landslide slimes in, which proved very foolish since their movements were heavily hampered by the sub zero temperature. Their movement was not very quick to begin with, but it reached the point where they were only able to inch forward, which served to hamper their own reinforcements. The poor stone golem core should have read up on viscosity.
Over the minutes several other things were tried, before the opponent just accepted that they would have disastrous losses and sent swarms of C tier stone golem variants through. When it came down to it, stone golems normally had slower movements than the undead enemies they faced. Both types were slower in the environment, but the undead clearly had the advantage. The fiercest fighting happened at the sides as enemies fought to break through the turtle gnomes, who stood their ground resiliently.
Any enemy A or B tier found itself attacked personally by the S tier chilled glacier turtle. A dark hole mage tried to challenge the S tier turtle, but the black hole created was weakened substantially by the frozen domain. A minute later the struggle ended with the black hole mage little more than a frozen popsicle. The floor was soon full of frost and rubble.
The turtle gnomes were the first to give way, even as they fought till the last gnome. Once their force was broken enemy units started flanking along both sides of the wall and eventually around the sides of the chamber. Reinforcement groups of spectral soldiers had been sent in to stop the advances, but the crack in the dam had already sprung. The enemy force was able to expand the scale of the fight away from the center, which broke the stalemate.
Slowly Peter's defenders fell. They were not really being replaced, but mages were taking pot shots from the adjoining tunnels. The S tier turtle was the last unit alive, and doing remarkably well. Its domain reduced incoming magical attacks which then had to contend with its formidable physical defenses. Still the S tier was a pretty haggard, its ice shell was pretty haggard with entire sections collapsed, and deep gouges it what remained. Once its support was all gone it had slowly allowed itself to be pushed back to the rune transport circle. This would clearly show his hand about the transport circles, but he was not about to use a Resurrect card when he did not have to.
The good news was that they had stalled the enemy's assault for a good while. His own assault force was already finishing things up on the third floor. There had been nothing remarkable about the third floor, just more than ten thousand units his armies needed to push through. The defenders had scattered their elites throughout the room to keep Krista from targeting them, which allowed the floor to hang on far longer than the first or second. Still there were only a handful of A tiers, hinting that his opponent intended to wear down his forces before bringing out the best of what he had to offer. Which was all well in good, since Peter had kept his own true elites back, but at this rate his commanders would have to deploy them first.
Peter made the call. He summoned 20 B tier chilled glacier turtles and put them with their own S tier and a few others on the tenth floor rune. It was quite the effort draining the B tier mages, but they sent them all to the first floor. The enemy forces had a rear guard holding the room, but they found themselves facing two S tiers. Peter was sending the saint flame dragon and chilled glacier turtle to replace the nightmarish creation as the defenders in the opponents entrance room. The nightmarish creation would instead take half its B tiers to go support the assault. It took some doing, but his reinforcements were able to make it to no man's land with most of their number.
The fifth floor defenses proved even more difficult for the stone golem to try to break through. Lasers zipped over the water and stone pads, only to freeze in the air just before the final platform. They would hang out there for 2 or 3 seconds as more shots joined them, before they eventually winked out of existence. The space cessation mages had locked down the space near the ground forming a transparent barrier, making it difficult for the straight traveling ranged attacks shot by rifles to go through.. The ballista bolts however easily found their way through. They all fired in a volley on command, right when the space shield dropped for less than a second.
Peter’s own mages only performed spells that they could lob over. A capability the stone golem force seemed to lack for the most part. The rifles and repeater crossbows could not get through or pass over and manage to hit anything. The few magic attacks that could were individually blocked by Einstein.
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The enemy had transported hundreds of C tier water units as well as dozens of B tiers, but they were unable to contend with the quarter off hippos and water mancer salamanders. The fight in the alternate realm was fierce, but they were not gaining ground there either. Gargoyles tried to wing through the air, but were cut down to laser line traps. This time the traps went off on an individual basis.
It did not leave the opponents with many options. They tried to send a force of stone gecko-like thing to walk along the wall to physically dislodge and disable the traps, but they were picked off from the water.
Eventually, the enemy just basically said ‘to hell with it’, Their forces started flying through the air triggering the traps one after the other. C tier units started running and jumping between the stone pads as they made their way across. The losses would be horrendous, but they could not come up with a better solution.
The SS tier Ether tearing dragon was brought out on the fourth floor. The elite rampaged through the alternate realm, before flashing into the physical realm to assassinate an A tier or group before quickly retreating back through the dimensional boundary. The unit was instructed not to target or kill anything less than B tier to allow it to stay in the fight. Once again, the enemy force had no effective counter. The SS tier was blasted several times by spells or rifle rounds, but it just ate into the unit’s longevity in the battle. All the ether tearing dragon would need was time to reconstitute its energy bar that also served as its health.
The only justification to bring out the SS tiers now was to preserve their forces as much as possible. The SS tier would likely burn itself out after this one floor, but it could refill its void energy over several hours and rejoin the fight on a lower floor. Peter highly doubted that they would finish things off in a matter of hours.
The stone golem assault forces once again realized the futility of their assault. The Gargoyles had expended all the traps, but they were having a hard time getting through Glenda and the other mages. Any that got close, found itself slamming into a new wall of frozen space. The C tiers trying to make their way across were getting cut down by magic and ballista bolts.
They finally started committing A and B tiers to traverse the expanse. These gargoyles continued to come, at the very least they would serve as a distraction. It was great to see the enemy forced to use their elites like battle fodder, but it would clearly work. Their enemies just did not go down as easily. Plenty would die along the way, but they would make it through.
The SS tier Collapsing star fiend took over for the other SS tier on the fifth floor, it led the way through the portal. The B tier fiends fell in with the rest of the beast assault force, their identity no longer needed to be kept a secret. The collapsing star fiend left them all behind easily tanking through the lasers. The fiend cut right through the clay warriors that were formed around the entrance platform, and headed right for the annoying toad stool helmeted clockworks firing their rifles. The fiend had decided that the nuisances must be silenced. The fiend was more of a beast than even the dragons. It just wanted to rampage.
A concerted effort was immediately organized to take on the fiend who had willingly placed itself in the midst of enemies. Peter was shocked to find that the counter included 2 S tiers. Neither were even the landslide slime that Peter had now expected to be brought out at any moment. How on earth had stone golem gotten at least 3 S tiers. Sure the guy had elite type cards, but he had not even battled. He should have a very limited amount of support cards. What had Void given this guy?
The first was a large stone skinned cat with medusa-like tentacles. They were medusa-like, because they shot petrifying rays. Several hit the SS tier fiend who immediately jumped through hurdles to dodge the rest. Parts of the fiend’s black hide had been turned gray. Peter could not be too surprised, petrification was not one of the fiend’s resistances, and the attacks were coming from an S tier. Luckily, it seemed the enemy S tier’s magic required more than a single hit or two. Unfortunately, the tentacles were capable of rapid fire to deliver the hits required, each tentacle launching a new ray every few seconds.
The second S tier was a humanoid stone statue with four arms. The statue was large although probably not giant card type large. It held black hole whips in all four of its arms. Each crack opened a black portal of devastation as they snapped. The unit was quick enough to block off any attempt of the fiend to close in on the two.
Krista tried to come in from above, but a whip flared back behind the stone golems head. The whip tip missed due to a quick evasion, but the resultant black hole stripped nearly the entire wing clean of feathers. Krista went spiraling away. She was able to pull out through careful balance since flapping her wings was not actually required. She used holy power to actually stay airborne, however it left her quite vulnerable as she tried to get back to friendly lines. Luckily, the collapsing star fiend had almost every enemy elite’s attention and then some.
The S tier was at least 10 foot tall despite a hunch in its upper back, where its snouted head hung from, but it was as quick as a cheetah. It was running circles around the enemy S tiers as it looked for an opening. Petrification rays streaked in from one direction, while lasers and magic came from every other. The fiend just ignored the latter which for the most part hit with little or no indication of damage.
Eventually the fiend had enough and just charged it. A whip streaked forward, but the fiend still caught it with its forearm. The black hole still opened even as the other 3 whips snapped its way. One grabbed the unit around the waste while the others struck forward toward the head. The SS tier was swallowed by the short term black holes, but emerged seconds later as its plasma claws ripped right through severing the whips. By appearance the fiend had taken extensive damage. It was bloodied with even missing chunks of flesh, however it hardly seemed to notice its wounds. It closed right in on the large statue.
The fiend was only half the statues size, but it was far quicker. The bottom stone arms tried to swipe it away, but the fiend simply went right over them both. It chose to attack one of the arms carving into it with its plasma talons. The top arm came down delivering a powerful blow to the fiends back, but the fiend only continued its work of what was essentially blow torching the appendage right off the statue’s body. It was off in only a few seconds.
The second the arm fell away, the fiend lost its ability to anchor itself in place. The statue took full advantage. Slamming both of its opposing fists into the fiend’s side. The fiend was sent through the air, but it did not make it far. The other upper arm caught the fiend by the torso with its whip. The statue had enough power to rip the fiend back around in an arc around itself as a black hole continually ate at the collapsing star fiend’s body.
After a few seconds the SS tier had gotten enough of its bearings to cut itself free, once again severing the whip. It slammed down, rolling over once before it was back to its feet. The fiend was covered in even more horrific wounds, but it ignored them as it raced back in. Luckily, it had a SS rank defense. It was perhaps thanks to its near immune status to void attacks and the moderate resistance to darkness that had kept the SS tier on its feet. Still it was fighting a unit a tier lower, that was heavily wounding it with attacks that it had resistance for. Peter could only hope it held out. These S tiers were incredibly deadly.
The SS tier easily closed back in tanking through the whips once again. A few moments later it removed the second bottom arm. This time however it was not batted aside. The fiend had learned and had bitten into the upper arm on the same side. A few seconds later and that arm separated as the teeth flared the same plasma. Some of the horns jutting off the fiend’s side were already carving their own groove into the statue’s torso.
A second later the fiend had its jaws snapped against the statue’s neck. The one remaining arm was beating into its back to no effect. Petrification rays continued to slam into the collapsing star fiends side. More and more of the creature was turning to stone. A moment later the statue collapsed as its head popped off. The fiend immediately launched after the other S tier, but the stone cat was already running away even as its tentacles continued to shoot their beams behind it.
The fiend however found that it could only hobble after it, since its leg on one side was nearly entirely made of stone now. The fiend was fine with dropping to all fours, but it was still far slower than the stone cat. Peter was beyond frustrated watching his SS tier get kited around and slowly turned to stone, but there was nothing he could do.
The situation of course was heavily in his assault forces favor. The fiend had grabbed a lot of attention, so it was not a surprise that its allies were able to come to the fiends aid. A bolt of lightning struck the cat in the side. Tempest fowl was soon circling overhead, charging a second bolt as Gnther kept the two of them clear of enemies. The S tier got back to its feet soon enough, before a second bolt slammed it back to the earth. The delay was more than enough time for the collapsing star fiend to catch up. Once it had the unit in its claws the fight was over, despite the fiend taking petrification rays right to the face.
His SS tier was in a pretty bad state. Ideally it would fall back for healing, but his assault commander did not exactly have much control over the thing once it was set loose. When more A tier targets presented themselves, the fiend was easily goaded into going deeper after them. Peter sighed, as he prepared to use his first resurrect of the day.
