The atmosphere grew tense as Exile glared at the players jumping off their ships at the same time. However, Parthus remained on his with several other players. 'I see. There are at least two Pantheons here.' A quick headcount revealed this fact. Especially considering they had already dispatched three players plus the ones still swimming to shore that survived their ships being wrecked.
'The only victory we can claim is weakening them and allowing the villagers to escape. We're not here to stop this invasion.' Exile revealed a grim expression as the enemies slowly marched through the shallow waters as their NPCs scoured the village.
"Attack!" Exile roared as he sprinted towards them, followed by the others.
The invaders attempted to get out of the water before Ragnarok could close in on them, but they were not fast enough. The two sides clashed in a vicious battle in the shallows as they shouted and did their best to bash each other's skulls in. Exile found three players ganging up on him. Although he could hold them, he was struggling to deal any damage.
Exile cursed as the drawbacks of advancing to Tier 1 became apparent. 'They must be close to advancing, which puts all their stats above mine...' He could not help but grimace at that. Without his Divine spells, he was essentially a lot weaker than these players. The only good side was that his Authority was higher thanks to his boosts from being a Pantheon ruler.
But even that did not give him a massive advantage. Each of the players he was facing had at least forty points in Authority. But judging by their other stats, it looked to be boosted from their equipment. 'It's like they're geared to fight Authority based players... Or... To target pantheon Leaders!'
Exile cursed as he realised why Parthus was hiding on the ships. It was because he had already prepared a team to face him or other leaders in advance! Exile could only focus on defending against attacks from three sides and occasionally strike back. He realised that the enemy had the numerical advantage and would soon overrun his Pantheon.
Though, he was pleased to hear the enemy cursing as their opponents would vanish suddenly. A smile spread across his face at the thought of how frustrated the enemy would be with not gaining anything for all of this effort. However, a look of concern crossed his face moments later.
The cursing was becoming louder, which meant that his Pantheon was falling faster to the attack than he had anticipated. A quick glance over his shoulder revealed that more than half of Ragnarok had already retreated. While the enemy numbers had barely been affected.
He could understand that defeat would come fast without numerical supremacy, but it still should not be coming that fast! He glanced around as he avoided another set of blows to try to understand what was going on. That was when he saw it. The enemies had manoeuvred themselves in a way that they could look for openings in other group fights!
He watched on as an enemy group suddenly turned away from their opponent and struck one of his members all at once in their exposed back! That player quickly reacted and cancelled their Avatar after that. 'Damn! Something like that is eventually going to cause deaths!' Exile was furious that Parthus was cunning enough to have organised something like this.
"Ragnarok! Retreat if your health drops below fifty percent!" Exile quickly roared over the din of battle. Causing confused glances from his team to be shot at him while the enemy cursed his name.
The warning came just in time as another chunk of his team quickly disabled their spell and returned to the Divine Realms. A chorus of angry voices called out from the invaders. It was clear that they had been on the brink of causing a number of deaths. Exile's order had just snatched that opportunity away from them.
As he deflected another blow, he noticed that the enemies quickly started to form larger groups now that most of Ragnarok were gone. Another five players were eagerly rushing to reinforce the three players that he himself was facing off against. 'There's no point... It's already over...' Exile let out a sigh. He could only hope that they had delayed the enemies long enough for the villagers.
"Everyone! Retreat now!" Exile roared before anyone who was left could suffer a deadly blow.
Grim expressions appeared on the faces of the Ragnarok members as, one by one, they cancelled their Avatar spells. Leaving Exile all alone on the shore. He cast a dark look towards Parthus' ship before following his own order. As his consciousness fled the Mortal Realms, Parthus stared at the shoreline with an uncaring expression.
"Sir! It seems that the enemies have fled! What should we do now?" One of Mirage's members acting as Parthus' guard called out.
"Of course they fled." Parthus snorted matter-of-factly before turning his gaze towards the forest beyond the village. "Have a group give chase to those villagers. Don't kill them, just follow them so we can find our next target. If they think they can get away that easy they're sorely mistaken."
Savage smiles appeared on the nearby players who heard that statement as they relayed the order to those on the shore. They had successfully beaten back an enemy Pantheon and set foot on Skardian soil. The morale of their NPCs was high now that they were on the other side of raiding their enemies. They had grown tired of only being able to prepare for the Skardian raids, and now they could not wait to return the favour.
Parthus, on the other hand, seemed more interested in studying the terrain. He paid attention to the nearby mountains, cliffs, and frozen forests. His mind silently calculating what supplies they would have to prioritise for an extended campaign in that environment.
"Collect any firewood and warm clothing left behind. Then... Burn this place to the ground..."