( One day before the monster wave )

One day before the monster wave, the warning signs of monsters emerging finally began to show. .

A cold breeze capable of freezing room temperature water within 5-10 minutes blew from the tower outwards to the men holding the front lines, as they had to cover themselves in warm blankets and jackets to withstand the sudden drop in temperature.

“The chill of the dead…. There is definitely an undead army on the other side” the front line soldiers talked amongst themselves, as the climbers association arranged for small bonfires to be created near the front lines.

There was still no sighting of the first wave of monsters emerging, however, everyone seemed to be prepared to fight at any given time now.

The layout of the human defenses was such that at the heart of the defensive formation was the Tower Of Ascension.

Originally a portal bridging worlds, its purpose would dramatically shift once the onset of the monster raid would begin.

No longer serving as a gateway to distant realms, it would morph into a sinister conduit, allowing hordes of monstrous entities to spill into Earth. A transformation that would mark the beginning of the onslaught.

Surrounding the tower was a meticulously crafted ditch trap, a stroke of tactical genius suggested by Rocky.

The ditch which was initially only to be used as a physical barrier was now devised in a way that would maximize strategic exploitation of the terrain, turning the natural landscape into an ally in their defense.

The ditch, wide and deep, had been designed to slow the advance of the enemy, dropping them into predetermined kill zones where the mages had already laced the walls with the most devastating fire spells.

After the ditch, the layout of the battlefield could be understood via imagining concentric circles around it.

The first zone outside the ditch was the minefield. Here, the ground itself had been weaponized. Traditional explosives had been secretly planted alongside arcane traps, each meticulously placed to unleash devastation upon the unsuspecting foe.

Just crossing this zone alone, the climbers association expected 90% of the first monster wave to be neutralized.

After the minefield, the second concentric circle was deemed as the ‘Blast Zone’.

This area was the culmination of their defensive strategy, a meticulously planned kill zone where the full might of Earth’s wide arsenal of weapons was to be unleashed.

From the relentless pounding of mortars to the ceaseless storms of arrows raining down from above, every weapon in their arsenal had been trained on this deadly expanse.

Powerful mages were also asked to direct their devastating area-of-effect spells to this zone, as this was the area where the climbers association did not expect any friendly fighters to be present, till the very end of the raid.

This zone was the anvil upon which the enemy was to be broken. It was here that humanity was expecting to deal crippling blows to the invading forces, exploiting the advantage of superior positioning and firepower.

Beyond this zone laid the buffer zone, the area about 100 meters wide where there were no human lines initially, however, were free to charge if the commanders felt like charging was an option.

And after the buffer zone was the actual front line, the first human wave of defense and the area where the most difficult fighting was expected to take place.

The front line was mostly composed of experienced parties from the guilds and new climbers from the climbers association who were merged with the guild parties to make make-shift units.

Most of Earth’s strongest fighters fought from the front line, including Guild Master Karna, Vice Guild Master Neatwit, Pope Cole, etc.

The class of the fighters deployed on the front lines was mostly suited for one on one confrontations, hence tanks, swordsmen, knight’s, and berserkers made up this unit.

Behind the Front Lines were the reinforcement lines, this was the line where a majority of the new inexperienced fighters were deployed alongside experienced mages, archers and other long ranged fighters.

They were there for tactical support and to fill in the gaps in the front lines, should any section fall.

Finally, behind the Reinforcement Lines were the Back Lines. The last line of defense for humanity and the unit composed of veteran fighters who were ready to lay down their lives to give a chance for the youth to retreat and escape, should everything else fail.

Association leader Cody was a part of the back lines, being one of the few who did not have retreat- as an option.

He was to either thwart the monster wave, or die trying, however, he was never going to abandon ground zero and run from the battlefield with his life intact.

While all guild masters were allowed to retreat, the climber association leader was not, and that was why the position of association leader, although coming with immense power and influence, was not a post that many sought to take up.

Rocky, alongside a paladin unit of the church, was deployed in the reinforcement lines, with clear orders from the Pope to not go into the front lines if any other alternative was available.

Overall, this concentric formation around the tower was like a siege of death and regardless of what force emerged outside the tower, against such a well set up formation they were sure to lose, however, the problem this year was the undead lich, a being that could keep regenerating his army using necromancy, as although humanity could destroy his army once, if it kept raising back up from the dead again and again, then even if they had a well set up formation, nobody could withstand monster waves forever.

To counter this problem, Earth had recruited the help of a lesser god, by offering him an enormous sum of 600 million tower gold and 100 thousand high grade mana crystals.

The mage god ‘Caspian’. A neutral god without any religious or factional association and one who was known for his rational temper.

He was the ace in human defense arrangements this year and the individual that Earth hoped would deal with any emerging enemy lich.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep