New Enemies

The red mine was not yet finished, and Vangark (FFS) saw an opportunity for one of his kingdom friends, Fraant (OBV), to gain some time and secure one of the chests that might provide a fragment of Raymond's weapon. However, it wasn’t long before he was attacked by a member of the IlI alliance, Tony Montana. Vangark had sent Fraant into the mine without proper preparation for an attack, forcing him to immediately organize his gear, talents, badges, etc. Once ready, Fraant launched four attacks but only suffered defeats.

Fortunately, due to using a large number of T1 troops, his T4 troops remained undamaged. This outcome was anticipated since Tony Montana had T5 troops, making it impossible for OBV’s member to win. Confident in his strength, Tony remained stationed, unaware that Vangark would retaliate with spearmen, significantly damaging Tony’s T3 troops and leaving the mine to Fraant.

The king of K276 observed Tony switching to infantry gear, and with a sly smile, he adjusted his stats to cavalry. As he prepared his army, he realized his cavalry numbers were insufficient and started training more, anticipating an intense battle.  

When Fraant was expelled, Vangark immediately retaliated, expelling Tony, only to be ousted himself shortly after—perhaps by NBe’s spearmen. He was wrong; it was another IlI member, Painter, whose cavalry outmatched his. In the excitement of victory, Painter neglected to replenish his army, leading to some of his T5 troops being wounded. Vangark wasted no time, reequipping spears and launching another attack, followed by defending against two cavalry assaults from both Tony and Painter.

A brief moment of peace ensued before Tony attacked again with infantry. Surprisingly, Vangark managed to withstand the assault. He stayed in the mine for a few minutes, hoping to drain his enemies’ attempts. Painter retreated to the crossover mines. “Go to the mine, one less to worry about,” Vangark instructed Fraant, who returned to try and accumulate time, though still lacking enough to appear on the rankings.  

Tony reappeared, prompting another clash with Vangark, though their battles ended there for the day. Fraant failed to secure a chest, and Tony barely made it to the top 10. Back at his castle, Vangark found numerous ravens from his new enemy filled with insults and threats. True to his nature, the king of K276 replied with a courteous message. Once the super mine ended, Tony launched a few more attacks on level 4 mines, but Vangark responded quickly until calm was restored.

The following week, only crossover mines remained, and K276 was matched with Tony’s kingdom. Things were quiet until the final day.  

The King had reforged one of his weapons, lowering its base attack to increase infantry damage reduction, weakening his spear attacks. When a level 4 mine became available, Tony attacked, who was wearing motivation gear. This sparked a series of attacks and defenses, with both sides increasing their armies by 50% to inflict more damage. IlI member switched to an infantry formation to counter Vangark’s spearmen. Though FFS member defended several attacks effectively, a loss forced him to switch to cavalry, regaining the advantage. If this continued, Tony would soon exhaust his picks, granting Vangark at least an hour of peace.

Observing his opponent switch to cavalry gear, Vangark quickly adjusted to a cavalry-spearmen hybrid formation using only T5 troops. The change worked; Tony was defeated once more and occupied an empty mine. This signaled to Vangark that Tony had no remaining picks, seemingly ending the fight. Just as he prepared to leave his troops in the mine, an attack from Lilya F, an NBe member from Tony’s kingdom, arrived.  

Recalling how Lilya failed to rank in the super mine due to his attacks, Vangark fought back. The first attempt failed, but the second succeeded. Lilya attacked again. Noticing her limited picks, Vangark struck Tony’s mine, prompting Lilya to follow. She launched four consecutive attacks, all of which he defended well. The King calmly observed her formation, commanders, and troop count, concluding that her army had a 50% boost. Before he could finish reviewing the reports, another strike expelled him from the mine—this time, Lilya’s army had a 75% boost. "I won’t waste one of those for a level 4 mine," Vangark thought, occupying another empty mine. Yet, she obsessed with him, continued attacking wherever he went.

Seeing he couldn’t win due to her troop advantage and his reduced base attack, Vangark began evaluating his options. Retreating wasn’t one of them. Analyzing the reports, he noticed he had lost some battles by a narrow margin. To compensate, he equipped three castle skins: *Heart of the Grass Sea* (adding 10,000 troops), *Sacrifice of Eternal Winter* (reducing enemy spear attack), and *Night of the Drowned God* (providing Total Defense and Health). Entering fervor by capturing a lord, his prince rank further boosted his stats. 

He reclaimed the unoccupied mine, and when Lilya attacked again, he withstood the assault. Frustrated, she reduced her T1 troops to increase her T5 count but suffered another defeat, losing some T5 troops. A second consecutive loss and her inability to win led her to launch attack after attack, perhaps hoping to overwhelm Vangark’s hospital. However, he healed his troops consistently until the attacks stopped, and she moved to the adjacent mine.  

He considered launching a final attack to expel her and deliver the finishing blow but decided he was too tired to keep fighting over a level 4 mine.  

Using the castle skins compensated for his base attack and troop disadvantages against Lilya F, allowing him to secure victory. Knocking Tony out of the competition was easy, but to avoid relying on those skins again, he hoped the Seven Gods would grant him a stronger base attack in his weapons.