Chapter 91: The Conduit
The Primal Construct army had abandoned their orderly march once they met the phantom defenders, preferring to fight in structured parties of five rather than a full battalion. It was the doctrine that all the factions followed: parties that consisted of classic archetypes seeking to engage other similar parties. While it was far more organized than the simple wave tactics of the invasion monsters, it still lacked the proper coordination that a proper command structure would provide. The greater formation only lasted while they lobbed attacks at the fort’s walls from the safety of their shields.
Unfortunately for the Constructs, the phantoms of Ghost Reef had a completely different set of tactics, forged in the crucible of the siege, that embraced flexibility and spontaneous cooperation. Coop dodged an uncontrolled mana bolt and lunged into action, ambushing a party of Constructs while he observed how his allies were handling the assault.
The phantoms hadn’t had more than a few days to properly train together under the tutelage of Ledwidge, but they had already gained an immense quantity of practical experience during the settlement event. From the start, when they were selecting their classes, they had been encouraged to be more independent and adaptable than what rigid five man parties would have demanded. The few days of training wouldn’t have been enough to establish proper teamwork, but the chaotic siege defense as they responded to waves and Field Bosses had tempered them into versatile combatants.
Faced with foes that presented a greater power level than their own, the phantoms had formed large squads similar to the tactic they implemented to stifle Gaol the Unveiled Blade and his reinforcements of Crazed Serpents. They wisely identified that they wouldn’t be able to match up against the Constructs on even footing, since the monsters were elites of a higher level than they were, and they embraced disorder to seek out advantages where they could. The phantoms had made extraordinary gains, but they were still around level 60 with only the top performers beyond 70. Their adaptability was paying dividends, allowing them to hang in there against stronger opponents.
Instead of trying to match the Constructs with party based combat, the phantoms were concentrating their forces in specific locations, then relying on their superior mobility to relocate in large numbers, converging on new locations where they could slice individual parties of Constructs away from the rest. Even though they were outnumbered over all, they only fought smaller groups of enemies at any given time, as long as they moved fast enough. It was a strategy that required perfect execution, but the phantoms were willing to risk their second lives if only to buy the residents and the settlement more time, none of whom would have the opportunity to return if Ghost Reef failed the siege.
Coop watched a group of over 50 phantoms, led by Gideon himself, run through the sand while pursued by several parties of Constructs. The monsters lobbed ranged attacks and spells into the crowd while maintaining their tight five man formations, but the phantoms dodged or countered while staying mobile, avoiding a direct clash. It looked like a school of baitfish being pursued by individual predators.
Gideon shouted, “Quick south!” and, with a rush of air, Gideon teleported away, into the center of a Construct party that was facing the wrong direction while pursuing a different squad. Surrounded by the higher level elites, the Rear Admiral brought his cavalry saber down into the shoulder of the party’s ranged attacker and a phantom blade manifested by mana followed his strike, rending a deep cut into the monster. He yelled “Bomb here!” and before any of the other Constructs reacted, the rest of the phantoms were on them like piranhas. The phantoms savagely ripped the monsters apart employing quick skills and wild attacks to deal damage. They weren’t able to destroy them in one or two skills, but with more than 50 attacking just five enemies at once, it was a slaughter.
The support Construct was the last to fall, as its barrier protected it for an extra second. Gideon yelled, “Long north!” and led the way by teleporting behind the pursuing parties, repeating the maneuver on another unsuspecting group that had lagged slightly behind the rest.
By avoiding a direct engagement and leveraging the phantoms’ superior mobility they were able to fight with favorable conditions, then retreat before the Constructs could consolidate their superior forces. It wasn’t a perfect strategy. They were losing phantoms with every maneuver, but they were at least delaying the Constructs from getting into the courtyard of the fort while simultaneously diminishing the invading force. The question was whether or not they could sustain their own losses. To Coop, it seemed like they were breaking even at best.
Coop was doing his best to turn the tables, diving into the nearest Primal Construct parties with his mistjumps and giving the enemy parties another foe to worry about. Unlike the phantoms, his individual attacks were extremely dangerous to the Constructs and he cycled through his weapons as he splintered their formations. He had the impression that the factions weren’t used to fighting so many enemies with high mobility skills.
A different squad of phantoms teleported into a group and their leader shouted, “Hammer down!” and Coop witnessed a dozen oversized spectral weapons form in the air and slam into the surprised Constructs, stunning them for the rest of the phantoms to pick apart.
Not all of the Primal Constructs were simply chasing the more mobile phantoms around. The parties of Constructs each worked independently, and some saw the opportunity to rush through the loose, mobile defenders on the battlefield. A significant portion of them just continued beyond the dunes, ignoring the larger squads. They crossed the moat with running leaps, and attempted to scale the walls or make their way through the breaches in the fort. The residents of Ghost Reef were desperately fighting to keep them out.