The players had expected the swarm to intercept them, so when the sea of insects blocked their path, Happy Stick, commander of the Gray Expeditionary Army, immediately issued the order to engage.
Using guilds as the basis for their units, they quickly turned their force of more than five thousand into a defensive formation and established a perimeter on the spot.
Without heavy firepower support, breaking through a swarm of this size was practically impossible—even for the players. An individual might be worth a thousand soldiers, but group battles required strategy.
The good news was that they didn't need to wipe out the swarm blocking their way. They only had to hold out until the Lightchaser arrived to support them.
So most players regarded the battle as a set-piece encounter in the Gray Expeditionary Army's main storyline. At Happy Stick's command, the players' gunners immediately sprang into action to establish firing positions, while the frontline grunts were delighted to fight in such open terrain.
It meant they could finally cut loose and kill to their hearts' content.
The Eternal Rift map was full of the Shadow Elves' distinctive, decadent charm, but not every player enjoyed staying in the shadows for long. Many felt that spending too much time in the oppressive atmosphere of Shadowdeep City was a real drag. So once they returned to the sunlit surface, their morale rose to strangely high levels.
The slayer kings, led by Giant Shark, drew their blades and strung their bows, shouting as they formed an assault line at the front. When the power-armored knights made their entrance, Lady Drusilia, who was taking part in the players' combat system for the first time, asked Murphy in astonishment:
"Do all five thousand of your people have exoskeletons?"
"Yep. They all got them however they