Solveig’s wings didn’t slow down once, not for the whole flight back. Logan held on with his one good hand, wind tearing at his eyes, and watched the ground blur past far below.
He saw the smoke before he saw the walls.
The territory came into view a few minutes later, walls scarred, smoke rising from three different points inside them.
Shapes swarmed the outer wall and the corridors beyond it, more of them than Logan had time to count. Thirty, maybe more, spears and claws and things that walked wrong crowding every open space they could reach.
```
[ Player: Veralina ]
```
At the center of it, cutting a clean line through the chaos with a rapier that moved faster than Logan’s eyes could track, was a girl with blond hair pulled into two tails, light on her feet in a way that looked less like running and more like skipping across the battlefield without ever quite touching it.
Ironroot Sentry held the gap of the nearest corridor, taking hit after hit on a body built more for standing still than dodging, buying time it didn’t look like it had much left of. Ashclaw Skirmisher fought beside it, twin axes moving too slow to keep up with everything trying to get past them both.
"Solveig, take her." Logan didn’t have to say who he meant. "I’ve got the rest."
Solveig peeled off and dove, greatsword already glowing.
Logan hit the ground running the second Solveig dropped him inside the gate, straight for the summoning circle.
He threw Tower Points at the circle as fast as the interface would let him, combat summon after combat summon, barely glancing at what came out before he opened Boundless Genesis and started pairing them off. Rare with Rare. Uncommon with Uncommon. He didn’t have time to think about which units matched well together, only which ranks did.
Three Epics rose out of the light in quick succession with a total of 1500 Tower Points worth of summons.
The first came together in a swirl of pale mist, and when it cleared, something serene stood in its place, robed in what looked like flowing water that never quite dripped, a staff topped with a glowing blue crystal held loose in one hand.
```
[ Healspring Cleric (Tier-1/Epic) Summoned ]
Active Skills: Cascade Heal, Sanctified Barrier, Cleansing Tide
Passive Skills: Everflow
```
"Get to the wounded," Logan said, already moving on. "Whatever you can do, do it."
It bowed once and was gone, mist trailing behind it toward Ironroot Sentry.
The second Epic landed, already sprinting, legs a blur before its feet had properly settled, wind gathering around it with every step.
```
[ Gale Herald (Tier-1/Epic) Summoned ]
Active Skills: Tailwind, Zephyr Strike, Storm Step
Passive Skills: Windspeed Aura.
```
"You. Buff Solveig, then hit anything still standing." Logan was already turning to the third before it answered.
The last one came out heavy and armored, built more for standing in a gap than moving fast, exactly what the corridor needed most.
```
[ Ironbound Guardian (Tier-1/Epic) Summoned ]
```
"Hold the corridor with Ironroot and Ashclaw. Don’t let anything else through."
Solveig didn’t slow down for the girl’s rapier. She came at him first, blade leading, a full lunge covering more ground than her legs should have let her cross in one step.
Windstep Thrust!
Wind gathered at her heel and shot her forward, the rapier’s point aimed dead center at a gap in his armor no bigger than a coin.
He didn’t dodge. He didn’t need to. His greatsword swept down and caught the thrust on the flat, and the impact alone staggered her half a step backward even as her blade skidded off harmlessly.
’Fucking legendary. I am overpowered in terms of stats and skills! But I can do it! One window of chance, and I can fatally strike it.’
She recovered before he could follow up, Light Feet carrying her sideways in a blur that left three afterimages hanging in the air behind her.
Blade Waltz!
Six strikes came in from six different angles inside two seconds, precise and fast, each one aimed at a joint or a gap, exactly the kind of attack meant to overwhelm something slower than she was.
Solveig wasn’t slower. He didn’t try to block all six. Four of them rang off his armor without so much as making him flinch, and he caught the last two on his blade. By the time she’d finished the combo, he hadn’t moved his feet at all.
She landed three steps back, breathing hard, something close to disbelief crossing her face.
’That should have worked. That should have at least made him bleed.’
She didn’t get long to think about it. Solveig came forward, greatsword rising.
Dawnbreaker Slash!
She barely got clear, Light Feet throwing her into a roll that put a scorched line across the ground where she’d been standing a heartbeat earlier. The heat of it singed the ends of her hair.
She came up out of the roll already moving, rapier leading straight into the opening his swing had left.
Riposte Flash!
The blade found a gap between two plates near his shoulder, and this time it actually bit, a thin line of blood welling up along the seam. Solveig didn’t so much as grunt. It wasn’t even worth him glancing at.
’Encouragement.’
```
[ Encouragement used on Solveig ]
-50 MP
Attack +10% | Defense +10% for 60 seconds
```
Gold light wrapped around him for a second and sank in.
Veralina’s eyes narrowed, and she went for something bigger.
Parry Break!
She feinted high, then dropped low at the last instant, rapier angled to catch his greatsword against its own weight and wrench it wide open for a follow-up strike.
It should have worked against anything moving at her own speed. Solveig simply wasn’t there by the time her blade arrived, already stepping past the feint like he’d read it before she’d finished deciding on it.
The Gale Herald reached him a second later, wind wrapping tight around his legs.
```
[ Tailwind used on Solveig ]
Speed +30% for 60 seconds
```
Whatever edge Light Feet had given her was gone the instant it landed.
The passive skill of Gale Herald also increased the Speed of all allies within 20 meters radius by 10%.
She tried to fall back and reset the distance. Solveig didn’t let the gap open at all, closing it before she’d finished her first step back, his blade finding her guard three times in the time it took her to attempt a fourth.
The third hit knocked the rapier clean out of her hand.
She scrambled backward anyway, empty-handed, looking for anywhere left to run.
There wasn’t one.
Around them, her army was coming apart just as fast. The Healspring Cleric’s light closed wounds across the corridor faster than the enemy line could open new ones, and the Ironbound Guardian filled the gap Ironroot Sentry had been struggling to hold alone. Whatever she’d thrown at the gate, none of it made it much further than the wall.
Billy, Bryowulf, and Blitzhawk were now freely shredding through their ranks.
’Damn it! Legendary, and how many Epics? Rares?’ The thought tore through her head, equal parts fear and fury. ’What the hell is going on with this player?’
Solveig’s blade came down in a clean arc toward her neck.
’SURRENDER!’
It stopped a hair’s width from her throat, and the world pulled her away before it could finish the motion.
[You have defeated player Veralina. +2830 Tower Points.]
The fighting sputtered out within a minute of her leaving, the last of her summons dropping where they stood with nothing left to hold them together.
Logan let out a breath and looked around at his walls, still standing, still his.
’That was too close.’
If he wasn’t here, she would have torn down his castle wall and destroyed the darn territory core!
’Phew...’
But after the relief came resolve.
’It’s time.’ He looked at his Tower Points.
[31,820 Tower Points.]
’With this, I can ensure that no player can invade my territory, and I also possess an entourage that can annihilate any territory.’
He would have to wait a bit for his 100,000 Tower Point item. Survival came first.
As long as he ensured his survival and gathered power, he would steamroll through this battlefield!
That’s what he believed his Boundless Genesis could do!
[ 24 hours have passed since the match began. Overall Score Leaderboard is now open. The top 10 players in this leaderboard will gain extra Tier Points based on their ranking.]
Logan narrowed his eyes and decided against checking the leaderboard.
’Not now.’
’When I open it, I should be the first, by a large margin. 24 hours. I will check it after 24 hours. 12 hours to prepare, and 12 hours to rampage.’
He opened the interface of Summoning Circle and upgraded it.
-3000 Tower Points.
[Summoning Circle Lv. 4]
> Normal 30% / Uncommon 35% / Rare 25% / Epic 9% / Legendary: 1%
’Level 5 territory upgrade cost 10,000 Tower Points, and for level 5 summoning circle, I’d need 5000 Tower Points. That’d leave me with 12,000 points still. And that means 120 summons.’
Level 5 was the maximum level of upgrades for territory and facilities. The level 5 Summoning Circle would also have a 1% chance of a Mythic unit appearing. Even though different floors had extra unique gameplay in each of them, the territory limits remained the same.
For others, it was a 1% chance of getting a Mythic Unit, and even if they summoned it, they had to win the match to bring it out.
For him, it was a 100% chance of getting Mythic Units!
Logan cracked his neck and began working.
...
In the blink of an eye, 12 hours passed by.
And the fate of this match was sealed.