The Undead regiment began taking casualties as the heals couldn"t fully compensate for all the damage coming in.
The painted dogs didn"t have any regard for their losses, they continued to attack, leaping into the meat-grinder with reckless abandon.
Howling like the eerie laughter of hyenas drowned out the sound of the regiment"s swords and spells.
Dog"s basilisk was petrifying the three-headed monsters with its gaze and Dog followed up by shattering the canine statues with his basilisk spine-whip.
Despite Dog and Dave"s effort the undead were facing a grim situation.
Dave didn"t see a solution or a way out, he just had to fight to the bitter end.
Dave recovered for a moment and went again to tear through the waves of the Painted Dogs, breaking skulls and tearing flesh. Blood and viscera soon painted his armor red.
Whenever his mana recovered enough he activated [Aura] and burned the area around the Undead clear of the tri-dogs, momentarily easing the strain on the regiment.
There was a high cliff in the distance if they have it in their backs, the dog"s won"t attack them from all directions.
"Move to the cliff!" Dave ordered the Undead to break through the densely packed painted dogs in their way.
The five first units speared through the tri-dofs, thanks to the dunlords and their pincers grinding through them with lavish brutality.
Dave followed with the rest of the units to join the ones next to the cliff.
He activating [Aura] to burn through the the dogs that had rushed in to fill the gap between the two groups.
The second half of Dave"s regiment rapidly joined the first near the cliff.
The regiment rejoined, the Undead and the dunlords forming a half circle facing outward with the ends against the cliff. Dave hurriedly ordered the Undead with less than 50% HP to change-out and take cover within the half-circle area to recover.
The dunlords rotated out in small groups so that the Unholy priestess and paladins could cast ma.s.s heals on them.
It was more challenging for the painted dogs to face the dunlords or jump past them into the ranks of the Undead formation. But their remorseless onslaught was grinding the dunlords" HP down lower and lower. It was only a matter of time before dunlords started dying, and once that happened the Undead would die in droves and Dave"s regiment would be obliterated in a domino-like effect.
"C"mon Boyz! Take as many of them with us as we can! Tonight we dine in h.e.l.l!"
"ROAAAAAAAR!!!"
The undead faced the incoming painted dogs with unbridled zealot and prepared for a final stand.
The ground started trembling, almost like an earthquake.
"More coming? Bring it on, b.i.t.c.hes!" It wasn"t like more of the monster-dogs were going to make things any worse.
Then he heard the howling of basilisks.
A large group of basilisks were charging toward the cliff.
"d.a.m.n. When it rains it really pours."
But surprisingly, when the basilisks got closer he saw they were tagged yellow instead of the red of hostiles.
"Don"t attack them," Dave commanded as a dunlord aimed his ballista at the approaching basilisks, "Let"s see what happens."
He ordered the regiment to keep killing the painted dogs.
The first basilisk to charge into the horde of tri-dogs was soot black and noticeably bigger than rest of the basilisks. It opened its mouth wide and shot its tongue out, smas.h.i.+ng into a group and adhering to several unlucky dogs. Then the tongue withdrew, whipping back and pulling the unfortunate canines into the gullet of the beast.
The other lizards entered the fray to either side of the black basilisk and started wreaking havoc on the horde of painted dogs, petrifying them with their gazes and then breaking their statues with swings of their tails.
"The basilisks are helping, give them support, boyz!" Dave ordered. The casters and ranged units began to aid the basilisks with spells and projectiles, helping any basilisk that got surrounded to shake off the wolves.
The battle continued for some time, the basilisks began to tire and started taking heavier damage. Dave directed his paladins to heal them, trying to keep his new allies in the scrum for as long as possible.
The behavior of the basilisks made sense to Dave. Although the basilisks were individually stronger than the painted dogs, no matter how powerful an individual they can be overwhelmed by sufficient numbers. h.e.l.l, Dave knew that from personal experience, except he"d been on the other side of the equation taking down more powerful mobs with his Boyz. And that equation s.h.i.+fted in the basilisks favor when Dave and his regiment encountered the painted dogs, he"d given the basilisks an opportunity for revenge.
The basilisks had suffered a long time from the predation of the painted dogs and now had a chance to give them a taste of their own medicine.
The tri-dogs weren"t able to stand for long against the Undead on one front and the a.s.sault of the basilisks on the other. At some unseen signal the painted dogs changed from aggressors to panicked cowards. They scattered, running in all directions with their tails tucked between their legs, trying to get away and whimpering in defeat.
Dave shouted in victory then turned to look at the pack of basilisks, uncertain what would happen now that no common enemy was threatening either group.
Dog urged his mount forward until his basilisk was nose to nose with the black-scaled leader of the wild basilisks..
The two basilisks looked at each other for a moment and seemed to be communicating on some level. After some growls and grumbles from the two basilisks, a notification appeared.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Because you fought with and aided the basilisks in battle against the painted dogs they now consider you an ally.
Your Reputation with the basilisks has increased to:
[Friendly]
The basilisks suffered greatly at the fangs of the painted dogs and have almost been driven to extinction. They are searching for a safe haven.
The basilisks have deigned to grant you the honor of riding them into battle if you help them find a safe place where they can survive and repopulate.
"Where am I going to find a place for them to live? It"s not like I have a nature preserve in my pocket…"
Dave accessed his user interface and opened the window for land-management, an option that became available when he ranked up to Death Knight.
Dave was shocked at the amount of land given to him by the king. A thousand acres!
Your land is suitable for the Basilisks.
Do you wish to send them to your land?
Y/N?
Dave pressed the "yes" option and the herd of twenty Basilisks disappeared, presumably transported to his land by the game.
Dave did a head count and reorganized the surviving troops.
"d.a.m.n those dogs! That little dust-up cost us thirty casters and two hundred melee units. Thankfully none of the dunlords got killed."
After every member of the regiment was healed and back in fighting shape Dave ordered them to help loot and carry everything they could glean from the numberless dead painted dogs.
"Alright, Boyz! Move out!"
The regiment continued exploring eastward, where he hoped to find the Third Raid Zone"s capturable area was.