Second World

Master used the contract stone on the eldritch beholder when he visited Mistress in Aurebor. This allowed him to gain an additional eternal-grade combatant for a day. The contract stone had different grades. To create a clone of an eternal-grade native, a legendary grade was needed. That was what Master possessed.

A contract stone couldn't be used if the native it was contracted to was nearby. Master prepared this in case the eldritch beholder was killed or decided not to come to Liguritudum after Aurebor lost. He needed the eldritch beholder to utilize her brood.

When the clone of the eldritch beholder appeared, the woods on the Western side of Dritzuut came to life. Within these woods was a cave. Inside this cave were the thousand eggs the eldritch beholder laid during her short visit to Liguritudum. Several mature beholders were tending these eggs.

The real eldritch beholder might be gone, but when the clone appeared, it connected mentally with the beholders inside this cave. The beholders sensed the link. The clone was calling for them. The young beholders broke out from their eggs. With the mature beholders, they rushed out of the cave.

They formed a small cloud as they emerged from the woods. They were like a flock of wingless fat birds.

Jack saw this flock approaching.

"I see you still have a trick up your sleeve…" Jack remarked. The eldritch beholder was already a difficult foe. With her brood, it would be more difficult. But then again, the force currently on his side was much mightier than the one during the battle in Aurebor.

"Arlcard, use your Orchestra of the Night," Jack said.

Once Arlcard started casting, Master did the same. The eldritch beholder fired her green rays at Arlcard in an attempt to disrupt him. The green rays were blocked by a sturdy hell gate summoned by the archdemon lord. This hell gate opened after stopping the rays. A score of winged demons flew out of the opened gate. They were all level 85 rare elites. They followed Therras and Spark who charged toward the eldritch beholder.

Once Arlcard started casting, Master did the same. The eldritch beholder fired her green rays at Arlcard in an attempt to disrupt him. The green rays were blocked by a sturdy hell gate summoned by the archdemon lord. This hell gate opened after stopping the rays. A score of winged demons flew out of the opened gate. They were all level 85 rare elites. They followed Therras and Spark who charged toward the eldritch beholder.

Jack used Wind Dash and arrived before Master could complete his spell. Master erected a magic shield while his other hand continued casting. Jack executed One-word Slash combined with Brave Slash powered by mana manipulation.

Master's magic shield was cut in half and Jack's slash hit him square in the chest. He had ice armor on but he still lost a significant amount of HP. He was also sent reeling back. His spell-casting was disrupted.

After forcefully stopping the backward momentum, Master stared at Jack with eyes that showed half disbelief and half anger.

"Hehe, our gap is shortening, don't you say?" Jack said.

Arlcard's Orchestra of the Night was cast. A thick mist covered a large portion of the eastern wall. The defenders had problems seeing while the Allied forces didn't lose their vision. This gave them much breathing room in landing damage on the wall as well as scaling it.

At the same time, the bright daylight sky suddenly turned dark as if nighttime.

"Huh?" Both Jack and Master didn't expect this turn of events.

"It's Horatio," Peniel explained. "He must have cast a spell from the Book of the Damned. It turns the day into night."

"Book of the Damned…?" Master muttered. He knew about the book. He just didn't expect someone here to have that legendary artifact.

With the day turning into night, Sangrod's vampire soldiers became even more deadly.

"Haha. I heard you use a trick like this during the convention. This is the real one. You are nothing special," Jack ridiculed.

"Quit your yapping," Master retorted. His body exploded into an energy creature made of wind.

"Now, we are talking!" Jack also used Lightning God Incarnation.

*

The flock of beholders arrived. While the defenders on the wall had trouble seeing due to Arlcard's Orchestra of the Night, the beholders had no such problem. They had very high magic resistance and their multi-eyes could see through illusions. Arlcard's spell was meaningless to them. They aided the defenders and made up for the defender's blind condition.

Their mind control ability was also troublesome. It's a good thing the young beholders were not high-level, hence they couldn't mind-control powerful targets. The mature ones were more troubling. These mature beholders had higher levels ranging from level 60 to 75 rare elites. Two out of those mature beholders were even mythical grades.

The most troubling one was, of course, the eldritch beholder. Her many eyes were also unaffected by Arlcard's Orchestra of the Night. They shone green lights which pierced through the magical mist and located their targets. Worse, she flew downward to where the Allied forces were and used her ability to mind control a large number of high-level targets. Therras and Spark were not strong enough to force her away. The last time, it was Broidrireg who did the job.

The archdemon lord and Arlcard were not that effective at fighting the eldritch beholder, her anti-magic planar wall nullified their spells. The archdemon lord turned its attention to the defenders on the wall, while Arlcard resorted to joining Therras and Spark in engaging the eldritch beholder at melee range using his rapier.

Luckily, Tip also had experience battling the beholders in Aurebor. He knew the rune tree could cleanse the mind control effect. He sent the command to the player who was piloting the mobile fortress and had the fortress moved to where the eldritch beholder was.

The controlled allies were freed from the eldritch beholder's hold once the mobile fortress came near. The rune tree had grown even more since the battle in Aurebor, hence the radius of its AOE had increased.

The eldritch beholder knew it was the mobile fortress that undid her mind control. It shot green rays and cast spells at the mobile fortress. Rune diagrams on the mobile fortress flared as it resisted the assault, but the fortress still received damage.

The mobile fortress didn't just stay put. It retaliated with the siege weapons on it. The mana cannon was useless on the eldritch beholder because it delivered magical damage. Still, the conventional siege engines like ballistae, catapults, and trebuchets caused physical damage, so the soldiers on the fortress used these conventional siege weapons to attack the eldritch beholder. These weapon's aims were bad, though. Many missed. Thankfully, the eldritch beholder was a large enough target so some attacks still landed on her.

The mobile fortress advanced to the eldritch beholder. It used the pincers on its four mechanical arms and grabbed the eldritch beholder. The energy gun upgrade on the pincers delivered physical damage. These guns fired non-stop as the pincers kept the eldritch beholder from moving away.

Past Themisphere Kings aboard the mobile fortress, who excelled at physical battles and could fly, came out from the fortress and joined the fight against the eldritch beholder. The rest aimed their spells at nearby enemies.

All the while, Arlcard and the others delivered sneak attacks whenever possible with Elayne using her music to boost everyone's stats.