Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch gritted his teeth in anger, but Hall of Immortality players behind him looked even more p.i.s.sed off than he was. They pulled out their weapons and looked ready to engage us at any moment.
I raised my arm, and the two thousand Dragonlight Cavalrymen around me spread out and a.s.sumed battle formations like clockwork. For a moment, the air was rife with tension.
Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch"s mouth twitched at the sheer amount of murderous intent pointed at his direction. A second later, he growled, "Put down your weapons. The map is going to open very soon, and there"s no need to waste time with Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Plus, they won"t be smiling very soon. We"ll settle our score with them once we"re inside Land of Soul Suppression! Hmph!"
Land of Soul Suppression was set so that a player could only enter it once per 72 hours. This meant that no guild could replenish their numbers immediately.
He Yi nodded as well and said, "This is not a good time to start a fight. Let"s help out the guild members who are on foot and fetch them over as soon as possible. It won"t be long before the teleportation formation is open."
"Mn."
……
We waited in silence. The map was covered in blue dots, and practically every NPC was surrounded by layers upon layers of people. To say that the place was packed like a sardine can was an understatement.
A grueling wait later, the time finally ticked to 11:57. There were only 3 minutes left now.
"Get ready. We"re going in the second it opens."
I was the closest person to the NPC. I spoke to him, and a teleportation window popped in front of my face. The entry fee was an exorbitant 100 gold and 4000 Reputation. It was like paying a vial of blood to enter a dangerous land with no certain profit. Eternal Moon Corporation definitely knows how to make their money.
Time pa.s.sed bit by bit. The confirmation b.u.t.ton lit up when it was finally noon, and I tapped it as quick as lightning. My gold and Reputation decreased, and I was dragged into another map by magic.
Swhoos.h.!.+
When my vision cleared up, I was standing on an empty ground surrounded by misty forest. My surroundings were unclear, and the ground was covered in small stones and wilted gra.s.s. It was a barren land that barely anyone had frequented before. Finally, the name on the map interface changed to “Land of Soul Suppression”. I was in!
I spurred my mount and rode forward for a bit. Behind me, countless players were teleporting in rapidly. The place became crowded in just the blink of an eye.
My party had 800 Dragonlight Cavalrymen, and they all gathered around me after they came in. He Yi, Beiming Xue, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon and the others also parked their parties next to mine. It wasn"t long before tens of thousands of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls elites were gathered in the canyon. Some distance away, we saw Hall of Immortality, Rose of the Holy Domain, Thunder and more enemy guilds. None of our allied guilds was near, it seemed. It wasn"t a problem though. Our current numbers were more than sufficient even if all of them were to attack us at once!
"Looks like almost everyone"s here. It"s time to depart to the center of the canyon!"
I opened the map and spent a moment studying it closely. The map was circular in shape and covered in red dots. Clearly, there were a ton of smaller spots to fit all the players that were about to pour into Land of Soul Suppression. Of course, no matter how big the map was, it was only a matter of time before we encountered the Northern Alliance. The war between the China server and them had begun with the War of Dawn City, and it wasn"t looking to end any time soon.
……
"Where are we going? "He Yi asked.
I answered as we rode, "We"ll try to get as close to the center of the map as possible. It has the darkest red, and I suspect it"s where the most important section of the entire Land of Soul Suppression is. We can"t let our enemies get the first prize, can we?"
"Mn!"
As one, the Dragonlight Cavalry and Cyan Tiger Cavalry rode toward the center. Horse hooves thundered across the land.
Suddenly, Heaven"s Rain came to a halt and pointed her sword to the front. She shouted, "Big brother Lu Chen, look! I see a mob!"
"Yeah."
There was a group of Scavenger Imps wandering the barren forest in front of us. The Scavenger Imp was a kind of human that was corrupted by the undead plague. Its body was hideously distorted, and its life force and soul had departed its empty sh.e.l.la long time ago. The Scavenger Imps were carrying steel pitchforks and picking up some trash from the ground.
I stared at them with Dark Pupils and read their stats—
Scavenger Imp (Ancient)
Level: 180
Attack: 5700~6850
Defense: 5900
HP: 450,000
Skills: Stealing Magic, Stealing Life, Scream Pierce
Introduction: The Scavenger Imps are a bunch of pitiful humans whose souls were stolen by the undead. They are incredibly strong despite their corrupted bodies, and they entertain themselves through acts of scavenging and stealing.
……
"Level 180 ancient mobs, huh?" Li Chengfeng smiled. "6850 max Attack is insanely high. It"s almost comparable to a boss"s Attack."
I said, "Be careful, everyone. These Scavenger Imps are numerous. Cavalry, advance slowly and don"t leave the priests" healing range. Mages, AoE them with Galaxy Storms. Archers, stun them with Shock Arrows first, then DPS them with Spiraling Arrow Blades and Volleys. Keep formation and don"t let these mobs slow us down…"
Everyone nodded in unison. My orders made sense, and I had proven myself multiple times during the Nation War. There was nothing more important to a commander than his guild members" trust.
Chiang chiang chiang…
Blades were unsheathed as the Dragonlight Cavalry moved to the first line, and the archers and mages to the second line. Bards started applying buffs, and tacticians started applying stratagems to those who didn"t belong in a Famous General party. Right now, almost all tacticians above Level 150 had around 300 Tactics. What this meant was that a basic 20% Encourage VII could be boosted up to 80%. That was good enough for most purposes.
……
I pulled out my own weapon and tossed it at the band of Scavenger Imps. The Cyan Netherworld Sword swept across the gra.s.s and impaled a good number of mobs in a row!
31727!
29838!
31093!
Chaos Moon pouted as she watched the damage numbers floating above the mobs" head. "f.u.c.k, your Attack is just so stupid. Even Level 180 mobs with 5900 Defense are like training dummies to you!"
Enraged, the Scavenger Imps waved their pitchforks and rushed me. Their expressions were ugly, and they let out screeching noises as they charged.
"Barrier Break! s.h.i.+elds up!"
The cavalry did exactly as I commanded. First, they plunged their flaming weapons into the Scavenger Imps" chests, drawing black blood. Then, they raised their s.h.i.+elds and blocked the pitchforks aimed in their direction. Despite the timely guard, plenty of people lost over 10k HP per hit, taking serious damage. The Level 180 ancient mobs were so strong that they dealt tons of damage even to the Dragonlight Cavalry. If this was Hall of Immortality"s cavalry, someone would probably be dead already. An untimely heal from a lousy priest was all it took.
Suddenly, the Scavenger Imps glared at us and shouted in a ghastly voice, "How dare you set foot on our territory, d.a.m.ned humans! You must be here for our treasure! Die!"
The pitchforks glowed red, and they stabbed the Dragonlight Cavalry again. A bunch of damage numbers rose above their heads—
18737!
12772!
9836!
—but this time, a bunch of healing numbers rose above the Scavenger Imps" heads as well.
+18737!
+12772!
+9836!
……
G.o.d d.a.m.n, the skill "Stealing Life" was about as literal as it could get. The Scavenger Imps were literally sucking the life out of our players!
Li Chengfeng couldn"t help but let out an incredulous laugh. "100% lifesteal? Holy s.h.i.+t, these imps are seriously insane! Quick, kill them before they turn our players into mummies!"
A hearty laughter later, the gang turned serious and went all out. Galaxy Storms and Spiraling Arrow Blades tore chunks of flesh from the mobs" body while holy light kept our frontliners healed. Murong Mingyue, Moon Dew and the rest of our priests all had noteworthy HPS.
I swung my sword three times and hit a dozen or so Scavenger Imps with burning Blade Slash, dealing a ton of damage. In fact, the last hit of the skill dealt almost 50k damage, which was 10k higher than my maximum damage output before I lost 90 levels in the war. It was because becoming a Divine General came with increased hidden stats. If I used Great Earth Transformation, I would do even more damage as a matter of course.
But of course, I wasn"t going to use it for a trivial fight like this. Great Earth Transformation cost 1 Divine Energy Point per minute to maintain, and I had less than 100 Divine Energy Points right now. I would rather save it and earn more points through the act of killing mobs. Once we entered the heart of the map, we would encounter the Northern Alliance and even Candle Dragon. Since this wasn"t a Nation War, I had no intentions of ignoring Candle Dragon if we ran into them!
……
Pop!
One of the Scavenger Imps let out a stupidly loud death scream and dropped a card—
Scavenger Imp Card: Increases user"s attack speed by 40% and mob drop rate by 25%. Duration: 90 minutes.
Ooh, this is a great item! I was fully buffed and I had healing from Murong Mingyue, so I didn"t need to use a Bloodknight Card here. 40% attack speed and 25% mob drop rate was way better than 40% HP in this case!
Swhoos.h.!.+
The card flew into the sky and enveloped me in a column of light. I swung my sword a few times, and sure enough, my attack speed went up visibly after using the card. Very well, continue!
He Yi also got a Scavenger Imp Card, and she used the item without needing me to say anything. Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits, Heaven"s Rain and the rest of our players also did the same thing because they knew that our true goal was not to kill Candlelight Shadow or Vienna"s Sorrow, but to walk away with bags of riches. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls ain"t changing their motto for ten thousand years at least!