As the battle commenced, the Archangel—the undisputed fastest unit among the eight factions with a speed of 18—failed to secure the initiative for Hudson as it usually did. Instead, everyone watched as Vidomina cast four consecutive spells targeting Hudson's entire army.
Hudson's teammates were stunned. How could spells be cast in succession like that? Wasn't the limit one per round?
Upon closer inspection, the four spells were Mass Slow, Mass Curse, Mass Weakness, and Mass Misfortune. All of them carried the effects of Advanced skills and had a duration of 50 rounds!
Mass Curse reduced the targets' damage to their minimum value minus one. This turned the Grand Elves' 2–3 damage range into a fixed 1.
Mass Weakness reduced Attack by 6. Taking the Grand Elves as an example again, their base Attack of 6 was now reduced to 0.
The final spell, Mass Misfortune, reduced the targets' Luck by 2. Hudson's hero, Christian, now had 0 Luck, meaning he would no longer trigger critical damage bonuses.
With these four spells, the opposing army was effectively crippled before they even moved.
Now, Vidomina's Ghost Dragons, with a speed of 14, gained the initiative.
Wayne directed Vidomina to open her spellbook again and slowly chanted a spell called Frenzy.
The Archangel is widely considered the strongest Tier 7 unit in the game. With 30 Attack and Defense, a fixed 50 damage, and 18 Speed, it reigned supreme. Even under the weight of the previous four debuffs, Hudson's 14 Archangels still possessed terrifying destructive potential.
The Frenzy spell causes the target to attack the unit nearest to them, regardless of whether they are friend or foe. It is considered a god-tier spell in the School of Fire Magic.
Boosted by Advanced Fire Magic, Frenzy hit both the Archangels and the 144 Royal Griffins standing near them.
The 4 Ghost Dragons chose to "Wait." The 62 Vampire Lords chose to "Wait."
The 14 Archangels moved, but Hudson lost control of them. Ignoring their commander's orders, the Archangels flew downward and raised their flaming swords against the 50 Zealots standing beside them!
The Archangels dealt 686 damage, killing 22 Zealots. The remaining 28 Zealots counterattacked, dealing 190 damage. Since each Archangel had 250 Health, not a single one fell.
Next, the 144 Royal Griffins acted. They flew toward the Grand Elves above them, swinging their claws and dealing 267 damage. 26 Grand Elves died on the spot.
The 157 surviving Grand Elves counterattacked in melee. With their Attack stat at 0, their damage fixed at 1, and the penalty for ranged units in melee, the counterattack dealt a mere 75 damage, killing only 3 Griffins.
Although the losses from this infighting weren't catastrophic due to the heavy attribute debuffs, Hudson and the onlookers were speechless. They couldn't even begin to formulate a counter-strategy.
Striking while the iron was hot, Wayne commanded the 48 Power Lichs to launch a ranged attack at the Zealots.
A cloud of black magical mist erupted from the Lichs' staves, traveling across the battlefield to strike the Zealots. Upon impact, the mist exploded, releasing a dense shadow that engulfed the Zealots and splashed onto the adjacent Archangels.
Because the target was beyond effective range, the damage was halved, dealing 450 damage. However, because it hit both the Zealots and the Archangels simultaneously, it killed 15 Zealots and 2 Archangels.
Finally, Hudson's Zealots got their turn to act... but because they were standing next to the hostile Archangels, game mechanics dictated that ranged units could not fire while engaged in melee. Hudson obviously wouldn't order them to attack his own Archangels, meaning the Zealots essentially lost their turn.
Feeling helpless, Hudson desperately wanted to do something.
Amidst the silence, Amy reminded him: "Your spellbook has the Water Magic spell Dispel. Use it quickly to remove the negative magic from the Archangels!"
Hudson's mind, which had gone blank, suddenly snapped back to attention. "Right, right! My Water Magic skill is at the Intermediate level." He immediately had Christian cast the spell on the Archangels.
The Archangels were instantly freed from all negative effects, including Frenzy and Slow.
The Archangels became friendly units again, which also freed the Zealots from the "engaged" status. The 13 remaining Zealots regained their ability to fire and attacked the Power Lichs, dealing 101 damage—a tickle that killed only 2 Lichs.
Next, Christian's Ballista fired. Despite having Advanced Artillery and a Ballista specialty, the machine was still under the effects of Weakness, Curse, and Misfortune. Hudson directed the Ballista to fire two bolts at the Power Lichs, dealing a total of 82 damage and killing another 2 Lichs.
The Grand Elves, still engaged by the hostile Griffins, could only move to the upper corner of the map. Hudson used two squads of Halberdiers to protect them.
Finally, the Ghost Dragons that had chosen to "Wait" moved, and Wayne had them defend. Then the Vampire Lords moved; they flew six hexes to a position near the center of the battlefield.
Round Two began.
Hudson used his hero's turn to cast Dispel again, this time clearing the debuffs from the Grand Elves hidden behind the Halberdiers.
He abandoned all caution and commanded the 12 Archangels to charge. They swung their swords at the Power Lichs, dealing 803 damage and slaughtering 20 of them. The Lich count dropped from 48 at the start of the battle to 24.
Hudson's posture straightened slightly, and his teammates breathed a sigh of relief. Archangels were still Archangels; their terrifying power was their guarantee of victory.
The Power Lichs counterattacked, dealing 90 damage and killing 1 Archangel.
Only Dughan remained frowning. He thought: Archangels are easy to find in this game, but in reality, where are we going to find Archangels to fight the Undead Scourge?
Wayne's Ghost Dragons moved. He had Vidomina cast Forgetfulness. At Intermediate and Advanced Water Magic, this spell prevents ranged units from using their ranged attacks. The Grand Elves and Zealots were instantly turned into "melee units."
Hudson had already used his spell for this round, so he couldn't dispel it.
The Ghost Dragons waited. Next were the Vampire Lords. Having moved to the center in the previous round, they now attacked the 141 Royal Griffins, killing 21.
Vampire Lords do not trigger counterattacks, so the Griffins could only stand there and take it.
The Power Lichs moved to the upper corner of the map.
Hudson looked at Wayne's three stacks. There were only 4 Ghost Dragons; Wayne wouldn't dare charge them into a counterattack. The Power Lichs had been forced to retreat by the Archangels. The Vampire Lords were Tier 4 units, and their numbers weren't that high.
Fearing that the longer he waited, the more bizarre spells Wayne would cast, Hudson decided to finish the battle quickly with the Archangels leading the charge.
He ordered the Grand Elves to move around their Halberdier guards and rush forward, followed by the Zealots who also couldn't shoot. The Griffins, meanwhile, retaliated against the Vampire Lords.
The 120 Griffins tore 13 Vampire Lords apart. Hudson was satisfied; Wayne's forces were small and couldn't win a war of attrition. But his smugness vanished when the remaining 49 Vampire Lords counterattacked. Their pale claws tore through the Griffins, and their fangs sank into their necks. As they killed 16 Griffins and drained their blood, the 13 Vampire Lords that had just died were suddenly resurrected!
In that moment, Hudson had the exact same thought Verdan had earlier:
"Damn it, I don't want to play anymore!" "Why does Miller have so many tricks up his sleeve!"
This resurrection not only shattered his fighting spirit but also deeply shook his teammates' confidence.
The teammates began advising Hudson to "Surrender" to preserve his army and artifacts while the losses were still somewhat manageable. They argued they should develop for a while longer until their military advantage over Wayne was so massive that even bizarre magic couldn't close the gap—specifically, until they had so many Archangels that Wayne couldn't hope to shake them.
Though Tess and Hicks strongly disagreed and Amy held her tongue, the cautious Hudson finally chose to accept.
At the cost of 24 Power Lichs and through the use of Frenzy, Wayne had killed 3 Archangels, 40 Royal Griffins, 26 Grand Elves, and 37 Zealots.
Upon surrendering, Christian fled back to the tavern. Having left the combat screen, Hudson and the others couldn't see what Wayne saw after he closed his monitor to the crowd:
The remains of those Archangels and Royal Griffins slowly crawled back up under the influence of Necromancy. Their bones began to reconstruct, but this time, they didn't form fragile Skeletons. Instead, they became 52 staff-wielding Power Lichs...
With the battle over, Verdan put on his glasses and returned to the game. Although he had lost, he could still help his teammates by "scouting," checking for missed elements on the map and monitoring Wayne's movements.
Both sides were so focused on the game that they didn't notice two more people standing beside Dughan—Marshal McBride and his loyal subordinate, Vice Captain Willem.