Side Ester—
Detaching themselves from the ensuing royal battle at the 4th Fortress, Ester and Lana, plus the rt's team from Class-8, charged toward the 1st Fortress on the «Thunder Javelin».
They had seen 1st Fortress's forces were called away, which made it a perfect chance to strike it down, and clear out Class-12 from the competition.
"I can see it. The fortress is indeed here."
The carriage was running toward the mid-section of east-west, where the fortress was, and soon, they saw their target.
Ester's voice had everyone from Class-8 peered from the front-side window. Lana was on the assistant coach seat by Ester's side as she excitedly chid in.
"Hehehe, look at how they're panicking away."
"Well, neither should've expected us to take a detour and use the carriage. The fortress has... huh, they only have two people?"
"Hmm, we had been sudden in our action, so even if they sohow heard of our advancent, an ambush would still be out of their capacity in the short term. I think the fortress is indeed empty, except for those two mbers."
"...This carriage really did break the convention, huh."
Lana iterated the situation to fellow passengers. rt quipped, sharing the sa opinion and trained his gaze on the fortress using a monocle. He contemplated the possibility of ambush. Ester's lips curled to see the opportunist mont, bringing a wave of sympathy for their opponent. Uh-huh, poor folks.
"Alright, let's get on with our task. Class-8, have you all geared yourself?"
" " " " "We're all ready!!" " " " "
An instant reply as Ester the crowd. rt realised he had not said much, and turned to give command—
"Shift yourself by the door! Rember, pounce on the fortress as soon as you feel the carriage slowing down! Try not to fall short behind!"
"Especially you, rt!"
"Hahaha!"
Since rt's job was «Wiseman», a through rearguard support, vanguard took their turn in teasing rt. rt imdiately went to his counter.
"Oh, since you're so welcoming, then I reckon all of you're confident that teachers have already noticed your ability, huh? Then surely, you would also not mind if I hog all the attention, right?"
"Now, there, rt-chan. Cool down."
"Who the hell are you calling rt-chan!"
It was a common occurrence. Since rt was sothing 14x sothing centiter tall, he was often at the receiving end of teasing from his class girl. To them, a small, young man trying to stretch out with his toes was a scene too endearing to miss out. It might not exactly be what he wanted, but this also made him popular among class girls.
Just as their little banter was ongoing, Ester's hurried shout followed.
"Is everyone prepared, rt-dono? We're just there."
"Huh—o-oh, yeah. We can begin anyti!"
rt promptly replied, keeping away the fact about their teasing. Regardless, they were the fan favourite for their skills, and knew when and when not to ss around. Every mber of Class-8 had been geared up when rt replied.
"Understood. Then, be prepared—«Drive Turn»!"
Ester prompted her skill, adding a boost to the speed of carriage. The carriage took a sharp turn, avoiding the trinkle of ranged attack from the fortress's Ballista.
Since carriage was an accessory to Ester, they shared similar HP. A damage to carriage ans her HP would similarly go down, and effect such knockback could still be applied on it. So at a mont's notice, Ester's action was to dodge it.
"Nice, Ester! Keep up this pace!"
"Of course. We can have no enemy with your support, Lana-sama!"
Ester felt a motivation boost as Lana cheered on her.
The ranged attack never ceased, but with her skill, all of them rely grazed the carriage at best, and before long, «Thunder Javelin» had reached the fortress.
It was quite apparent the sheer speed of carriage must have left the few defending mbers in startle when they saw neither of their interception attack making it through. But much to their horror, it was the re beginning of a nightmare.
The carriage should've slowed down when the door to the cabin flung open, and Class-8, spearheaded by rt, jumped out and into the fortress, beginning their fortress assault.
"W-what the hell!?"
The person in-charge of the fortress could feel his leg turning jelly, completely overtaken by the blitz strategy he was facing, sothing 1st years had yet to experience.
The other defenders found themselves in a dilemma, should they target carriage, or the Class-8? Ester took advantage of their hesitation and fled away from the scene after delivering rt's team at the entrance of the fortress.
She stopped the carriage a few squares away, where the range of «Ballista» was ineffective against them. Once settled, Lana stood up to play her role.
—Ultra-ranged support fire.
To the defenders, it was like soone had suddenly opened all the floodgates. They're barely able to contend against rt's team, and now, an enemy out of their range had begun to bombard them.
"Heh, I hope they're ready! —«Sacred Shining Saber»!!"
"H-hey, what's that?! It's heading stra—!"
—*BOOM*
A loud, thunderous rumble jolted the entire fortress, dealing a massive amount of damage.
The defenders tried to resist, but what could they do? Soon, they began to drop like flies under Lana's ranged support, and eventually, even the in-charge was eliminated.
Once their departure was confird, Lana healed any damage inflicted on rt's team, who then brought down the 1st fortress. As soon as their first objective had been achieved, the team boarded the carriage again, and bolted inside the destroyed fortress—toward the Class-12's base.
◇◇◇
The 1st Fortress was destroyed.
For the Class-12, it was nothing short of a roller coaster ride. The blitz strategy adopted by their opponent had surely struck them in their blind spot, and had they not expected any such absurdities, maybe their rank would've already been in shambles.
It was in their luck that they'd Dwarves further strengthened the fortress, allowing it to block the invaders long enough for twin-shielder Tomoyo to arrive before their enemy could.
However, their relief didn't last long, as they soon received a contact from Rina via «Guild Connect», informing them of their current situation.
"What?! First Fortress is already done for?!"
«Yes, and they've already begun to race toward your base! As of now, Lamda-san has been challenging Zephyr-san, so please try to hold the line until reinforcents arrive!»
"Argh, they're here!"
Tomoyo's shout followed a mont later when she captured the rushing carriage.
Class-12 had borrowed whatever mbers were left on 2nd Fortress as reinforcent, barely making it to a team of 8.
Though Rina did say Lamda's team should be arriving once they'd handled their share of trouble, whether they could hold the line until then was all up in the air. Regardless, they're facing soone with an advanced job, as well as the leader of Class-8 himself.
anwhile, the faces of Class-12;s mber were blue from regret. If only they'd stopped Lamda from leaving back then, instead of trying to appear cool, maybe they might have sufficient battle power. Alas, it was too late for anything.
"They're here! Dungeon Carriage is already in the second square to us!!"
"What, so fast?!"
The sa news was reported to the team by the scout that had followed Tomoyo. She'd stayed back to camp one square south. As soon as she caught a whiff of their opponents, she pulled back to their base.
The surprise, though, was that they'd barely been here for 30 seconds! They'd not even left any mont to prepare themselves.
Atleast, it was fortunate they'd already been on standby to summon guardian monsters, having been given a pre-planned structure to follow from Rina. The sole problem now was soone had to stop the carriage from charging into their base!
Tomoyo made her decision, and charged forward.
"I-I will stop them!"
"W-wait, Tomoyo?!"
"Everyone, make sure you're prepared to target them as soon as I had blocked them!"
In their predicant, every second matters, so Tomoyo didn't bother answering, leaving behind her command. The carriage had already breached the square to their base.
Frankly, Tomoyo was scared to face the carriage when she realised its terrifying speed.. However she sohow pushed back her jumping heart.
"If I fail, no one will be able to escape! Co on, . Now is my mont to shine!! Haaa—unique skill «The Last Wall»!!"
"Tighten your seatbelt, everyone! —«Accel Drive»!"
Tomoyo raised her two shields and brought them down with a force, wedging them deeply into the ground as if to bury them there, solidifying her defense.
Ester, too, unleashed her skill, ramping up her montum. And then—*Thuuuuuuud*
A deep, crashing sound followed as the shield t the carriage. And the outco—Tomoyo succeeded in stopping the carriage!
"What, she stopped the carriage charge?!"
"Heh, she has got so skill! I like her!"
Ester exhaled a dumbfounded reponse, however Lana was quite impressed by the feat.
Ultimately, the deciding factor among the two's contests had co down to unique skill. To begin with, Ester's «Accel Drive» was rely at level 1, the exact opposite of Tomoyo's max level unique skill. And as it was commonplace, a unique skill would alway triumph over normal skills.
On the other hand, dungeon carriage might be categorised as an equipnt, however it was all about transport. Its combat potential was abysmal, dealing no significant damage to boss or players. The sole exception could be the hit-and-run case. While damage was nil, it was possible to knock back or trample down an opponent.
That said, it was also possible to stop the charged attack. Yes, as long as one could gain a footing nobody could push you further, then impact could be absorbed.
And Tomoyo's sub-conscious reliance on her unique skill precisely saved her in the mont. Zephyr would've given her a thunderous applause had he witnessed it for sure.
Either way, the action of Tomoyo had finally forced their opponent to face them upfront, sparking another mont of tension in the air.
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