I, the prince in distress, send money

Chapter 500 Hard Fight
The news revealed by this special snake-man quickly spread to the ears of all the players in the camp, and they started discussing it, creating a lively atmosphere for a while.

The Macon people in the camp don't understand Chinese, so the players aren't worried that their discussions will leak information... The snake-man's words are mysterious and the content is somewhat shocking, so it seems that it's indeed not suitable for NPCs to know.

"Holy crap, Naghthus is a female snake?"

"I knew this game's backstory wasn't that simple. The official expansion must have hidden magic elements, they just won't let us use them!"

"Magic is a beacon that can attract natural disasters? Then wouldn't the resurrection we players use be considered magic?"

"I don't think so..."

"But I noticed that the priestesses of the Earth Mother Goddess and the Goddess of Agriculture seem to know magic too!"

"That's divine magic, not sorcery!"

"Aren't they almost the same thing?"

"So... the Greek continent is actually a beginner's safe zone?"

"Those snake people are attacking to take over the starting village? I know that storyline all too well!"

"Was what that little white snake said true or false? Or was it just misleading information arranged by the system?"

"Who cares? Isn't this plot much more interesting than helping that idiot Macon defend the city?"

Players unleashed their imaginations, coming up with all sorts of guesses and wild ideas, and chatted freely.

However, as the night deepened and the moonlight was obscured by a thin layer of clouds, becoming dim and unclear, the players in the camp had no time to continue their discussion, because a sharp and urgent whistle suddenly rang out from the watchtowers on the east and west sides almost simultaneously.

"Enemy attack from the east! A large number of snakes are moving along the edge of the woodland!"

"They're coming from the west too... damn it, they're coming from the Casarina direction!"

The alarms, which sounded almost simultaneously, put all the players on edge. The relaxed atmosphere vanished, replaced by a suffocating sense of impending battle.

"Damn, a pincer attack!"

While still questioning the snake-man's displeasure, he heard the warning outside and his heart sank. The snake-man was indeed not going to let it go, and he came up with a ruthless move right from the start.

"Keep an eye on it, don't let it get away."

After saying that, he turned around and rushed out of the tent, ready to join the battle.

The players inside the camp did not require any additional command. They demonstrated a level of adaptability far exceeding that of ordinary NPC armies. Although they were cursing and swearing, their actions were decisive and efficient.

They quickly grabbed their weapons and, according to their rough divisions, surged towards the wooden walls on the east and west sides of the camp like two streams. The sound of footsteps and clashing weapons soon filled the camp, waking the refugees.

Even new players have a very reliable fighting spirit. When the alarm goes off in the middle of the night, most of the offline players quickly log back on. Those who haven't logged on have already handed over the AFK command of their characters to their friends, or are in a bad mood and want to give commands.

However, the current number of players in the camp is a major drawback.

After deducting the losses from the previous attack and including those who stayed behind, there are only about 170 players who can fight now. If they are divided into two sides, there are less than 90 people on each side. They have to defend the wooden walls on both sides, which are nearly 100 meters high. With so few people, they can barely stand for one meter each.

"Makonns, all men who can wield weapons, come here!"

"I'm not happy, I won't play!" he shouted towards the refugee camp.

"Take the weapons I've given you and follow behind the mercenaries as reserves. Don't fight the snake people, but help transport ammunition and the wounded... Quickly light all the torches and stick them on the walls!"

At his call, the still strong men among the refugees hesitated for a moment, but seeing the players' tense preparations for battle and thinking about the consequences of the camp being breached, they finally gritted their teeth and stepped forward.

Most of them looked terrified, their hands and feet trembling. They gathered in the open space under the wall, carrying swords and a few matchlock guns, forming a temporary and chaotic auxiliary force.

Just then, the snake-men finally emerged from the shadows of the jungle on the east and west sides, and these indistinct, writhing shadows rushed straight towards the camp.

"They're coming!"

The player on the wall issued a warning.

"Fire, free fire!"

The player elected as squad leader from the wall shouted at the top of his lungs.

On the wooden wall to the east, the flashes of flintlock muskets spitting fire soon rang out, and lead bullets whistled into the charging snake-men, instantly sending the snake-men at the front of the line flying.

But the snake-men were numerous, and they didn't care about the casualties. When one fell, the others would immediately step on the corpses of their companions and continue their charge. They were extremely fast, their lower bodies snaking as they charged, like arrows flying close to the ground.

At the same time, while being shot, the snake-men were not only passively taking hits; some of them who were armed with bows and arrows were also fighting back, and sparse arrows flew towards the camp.

In addition, several snake-men, wielding rough snake bone scepters and covered in colorful scales, stopped among the snake-men.

They raised their scepters high, emitting hoarse, shrill chants. The eerie green crystals embedded at the top of the scepters began to emit an ominous light, resonating with some invisible energy in the air.

The next second, thick, foul-smelling, dark green mist erupted from the top of the scepter. The mist passed through the snake-like group, clinging to the ground as if alive, and rapidly spread towards the camp's wooden walls. The players on the earthen walls were busy firing and didn't immediately notice the unusual mist… partly due to the intense fighting, which distracted them, and partly due to the poor lighting on the battlefield, where dark green and black were similar colors.

When the mist climbed up the wall from the base, and several players smelled rotten eggs and became dizzy, they realized something was wrong.

"Poison gas! Poisonous fog! The snake-man has released poison gas! Watch out for the green fog!"

The player on the wall, who had been poisoned, was vomiting and screaming in terror, alerting the others.

Because of the poisonous fog, the density of musket fire on the wooden wall suddenly decreased. Taking advantage of this, the snake-men charged forward, reaching the edge of the trench in front of the wooden wall, preparing to climb over and launch a formal attack on the wall.

"Grenades! Throw grenades!"

"Molotov cocktails, aim them at the densest areas!"

Even with the poisonous fog, the players on the wooden wall continued to shout at the top of their lungs. They simply tore off a piece of cloth from their bodies, wet it with water, wrapped it around their faces, and continued to shoot and throw things desperately.

The continuous explosions of grenades and the flames from Molotov cocktails temporarily halted the snake-men's momentum, but this could not completely repel them. The snake-men who came to the foot of the wooden wall not only tried to climb up, but they also began to throw bone spears and poison arrows at the top of the wall, making a whooshing sound as they pierced the air.

puff!

A player who was loading ammunition was pierced through the chest by a bone spear shot from the darkness, and fell off the wall with a scream.

"Watch out for stray arrows!"

The people nearby screamed in terror.

At this moment, one of the players finally spotted the source of the anomaly a hundred meters away and discovered the three snake-men wielding long sticks but not charging forward.

"Those three snake-men with sticks, a hundred meters away at one o'clock, they're the ones who released the poison gas!"

Just then, the artillery crew carried three small cannons, each about the size of a bowl, up the earthen wall by hand. Upon hearing the warning, they immediately pointed the cannons at the area where the three snake-men were located and then lit the fuses.

Boom boom boom...

The three small-caliber cannons roared in a way that was disproportionate to their size, and a deadly metal storm of nearly a hundred lead bullets shot out in a fan shape, covering a large area at the one o'clock position.

Like a sudden storm, the volley of bullets rained down on the snake-man horde, with the three snake-man shamans who were channeling spells being the first to be hit!
Their colorful scales and eerie bone staffs were meaningless against the shotgun shells.

One of the snake-men was the unluckiest; its head exploded like a rotten watermelon, and its headless corpse swayed and fell to the ground.

The other two snake-men were protected by the other snake-men. A large number of ordinary snake-men who were acting as meat shields also fell down, which frightened them. They immediately stopped casting spells and ran back with their scepters in their hands.

The effect of this shot was immediate.

Without the shaman's continued guidance, the spreading poisonous fog lost its source, its spread slowed significantly, and it began to show signs of gradually dissipating.

However, by now, the snake people have already rushed to the wooden wall, and the disappearance of the poison mist spell has not allowed the players to reverse the situation.

The battle has reached a fever pitch.

Bullets flew across the wall, explosions echoed below the wooden wall, and the hiss of the snake-men and the roars and screams of humans mingled together, creating a bloody symphony of death.

Even though he was unhappy and didn't want to play, he had already joined the battle. He fired his musket while anxiously observing the situation.

The players' firepower was fierce, but the snake people's offensive was like waves, one after another, seemingly endless.

The two-meter-high wooden wall did not provide absolute safety, as agile snake-men had already climbed it, forcing the players on the wall to engage in hand-to-hand combat with bayonets and armed swords.

"Spearmen, come quick! Throw those snake-men who're climbing up back down!"

"Quick, a few people are coming this way; they're all rushing this section!"

The refugees in the reserve were also driven forward. Trembling, they used their spears to stab wildly upwards from the bottom of the wall. They couldn't kill the snake people, but at least they could distract them.

Or they might help pass ammunition or drag the wounded away; although their role was limited, they at least filled some gaps.

"I'm annoyed with the boss. The pressure is greater from the west; they seem to be focusing their attack there!"

A player covered in blood ran over from the west wall, panting as he reported.

Anxious and worried, I realized that the west was the direction of Casarina. Could it be that after the snake people captured the town, they had transferred all their main forces here to deal with them?

"Send twenty men to the west, and hold the east as far as possible!"

He gritted his teeth and gave the order. Although the pressure from the east was just as great, he had no choice but to rob Peter to pay Paul when he had no player reserves.

"Prepare the flamethrowers! Both teams, come to the east wall and tell them to prepare to burn it down!"

"Ok!"

(End of this chapter)