Again? - Invading Av0

The feeling of starting to lose my fear of invading and attacking Av0 was somewhat strange. Who, in their right mind, invades Ganicus’s kingdom? That was the question I kept asking myself before going to that server for the first time. But after nearly ten invasions without any ambush or retaliation, I felt like everything was always under control there.

I was not looking for any targets in the last few days. I was at home, just attacking a few Rebel Leaders to help my alliance and gathering resources in peace. But suddenly, at the beginning of dusk, I received a message. Three targets were without the bubble in Kingdom 94.

“What? Again? No way!”

That was the first thing that came to my mind. It had not even been a week since I last invaded that kingdom and destroyed a few castles. I was surprised, because seeing an alliance of that size repeatedly fail at managing their bubbles was something very rare.

As soon as I saw the three castles without a protection bubble, the memories came back. I had already attacked those same players a few months ago and had huge success in that invasion. But this time, I decided not to send a scout there so as not to draw attention. I would attack and hide my troops as quickly as I could, because I knew the problem was the protectors of that kingdom.

The two castles, CRONOS and SIR CRONOS, were the same player. I did not remember what his formation or troop type was. The only thing I could remember was that I was stronger than both. The first thing I did was check if Ganicus was online, and of course, he was, and that changed the attack strategy. After that, I checked if I had enough boots and resources. I was ready, once again, to invade Av0, even knowing that everything could end in disaster.

Even being brave enough, I knew I could not leave any room for mistakes. If I stayed in my position for a few seconds after the attacks, I would be exposed and would certainly be attacked, so being fast should be my main goal. And after checking everything I needed, I jumped to the kingdom and launched the first attack against SIR CRONOS.

It was possible to hear the war cries from miles away. My men rode toward my target with a single objective: bring down the wall and take control of the castle. As soon as Sir Cronos saw the danger approaching, he prepared his five commanders and sent his soldiers to the wall; he did not want to fail at all.

Most of Sir Cronos’s army was composed of cavalry troops. His commanders and gear also gave him cavalry stats, but the overall organization was terrible. Sir Cronos saw his wall collapse as soon as my men hit, and more than 7.2 million of his troops were killed in battle. Sir Cronos had suffered a first major loss. On my side, the losses were controlled. But I did not have time for calculations, I healed my troops and launched a second attack before he could react.

Before my troops marched, Sir Cronos’s wall was filled, this time with a large number of Tier 1 and Tier 3 troops. Even so, the damage was immeasurable. Sir Cronos lost more than ten million troops; that meant more than half of his defensive army had been destroyed.

This time, I decided not to heal my troops. I knew the level of danger that invasion brought, so the hospital ended up becoming a great way to hide troops. After changing my location, I launched a third attack, this time to eliminate all the remaining army of my enemy.

After three attacks, Sir Cronos became my prisoner. Another 8.8 million troops fell, and control of the castle was taken by my troops. From that moment on, all civilians and resources belonged to me. That was a major victory against a player from a large alliance. But the job was not finished, because his neighboring castle was still standing.

I gathered my men and, from a distance, we observed Cronos’s castle. I knew the main players of that kingdom were online, and it would take only one garrison to destroy my army and capture my lord, and that was my biggest fear at that moment. After almost three minutes of waiting, I gave the coordinates of the new target and ordered the attack to be launched.

My second target, Cronos Ray, showed much more resistance. The first attack against him was extremely painful and made me lose nearly 250 thousand men and fill my hospital with almost 600 thousand wounded. The difference was that Cronos had a solid defense with five cavalry commanders and a huge number of T1 troops. Another major problem was Cronos’s hospital, with a capacity of more than one million. It was the first time I had seen that, and I found it crazy.

I thought about giving up. I was about to send my army to be wiped out once again. But now, without the fortifications and the wall, would I get a better outcome? That thought crossed my mind and pushed me to take the risk… so I launched a second attack.

The second attack was better, but it still cost me many troops. Cronos Ray lost nearly five million soldiers in that impact, while I lost a little under 200 thousand. These two attacks cost me millions of resources to heal my men. I sent a scout to see what was left of Cronos’s army. The news was not good. More than four million T4 troops were still standing, but on the front line, more than twenty million T1 troops were protecting the stronger soldiers. That was when I decided to stop that invasion and leave the kingdom.

Do not be mistaken, the invasion and the attacks were a success, but a good hunter needs to know when it is time to stop. I did not have infinite resources or troops, and making more attacks would cost me a lot, in addition to risking an ambush from Ganicus at any moment. And I was right… After a few minutes, I saw a line heading toward Cronos Ray, someone had sent reinforcements or a garrison. I could not see who it was, but that was the proof I needed to feel more comfortable with my decision to stop.

I left the kingdom with a strange feeling. I had earned nearly 32 million merit points, but not destroying Cronos Ray left me uneasy. Still, I know that in the future I will have more opportunities to add another Av0 to my list of victims.