A while later, everyone heard a ding—
System Announcement: Congratulations to player "Purple Marquis" for successfully killing the Shadow Flyer. 300 points are awarded to the player!
……
d.a.m.n, the boss of the fourth wave was killed by Purple Marquis?
He Yi, Murong Mingyue and I exchanged glances with each other. It would seem that Snowy Cathaya wasn"t lacking in outstanding talents at all. Purple Marquis normally concealed his abilities, but he had great skills, high level and top-tier equipment. In fact, his individual skill was on par with Gui Guzi"s at least. Thanks to him, much of Lin Yixin"s burden was lifted off her shoulders.
More importantly, Purple Marquis was similar to Xu Yang in that he always reciprocated favors and his loyalty was undying. Just a week ago, it was rumored that Dominating Warrior G.o.d personally sought out Purple Marquis in Suzhou and promised him a whopping monthly salary of 100k RMB if he agreed to join G.o.ds of Destruction. Not only that, he offered to make him the vice leader of G.o.ds of Destruction.
To everyone"s surprise, Purple Marquis turned him down. "I will only serve Lin Yixin this lifetime," he said. After Dominating Warrior G.o.d went back to Shanghai, G.o.ds of Destruction never tried to steal Snowy Cathaya"s generals again. He wasn"t even the only person to turn down a tempting offer. Li Le had attempted to recruit her other general, Zi Chuanyu, and was met with the same response.
One had to wonder just what magic Lin Yixin possessed to enchant her generals so. The kind of loyalty that surrounded her was so thick that it was probably unparalleled in all of China. Even the retired pro, Seven-Star Lamp, had to post a thread and state, "If Song of Cloud and Water was even half as attractive and courageous as Wind Fantasy was, Soul Battle Robes would"ve returned to the top a long time ago…"
……
Meanwhile, a lot of Floating Ice City parties had regathered around us: solo players, temporary 5-man parties and even thousand-man guild parties. If there was one thing China wasn"t lacking, it was manpower. Countless people had died just now, but now almost a hundred thousand players were forming up at the eastern walls of Skull Castle again!
But of course, a huge majority of them didn"t actually amount to anything. The problem was that solo players and small parties could barely do anything in a large-scale battle like this, as not even the best pros could charge in and out of a horde of high-level mobs without anyone to support them. Therefore, the strongest party at the eastern walls right now was most like Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and G.o.ds of Destruction. G.o.ds of Destruction was a clan-based guild, and they had Dominating Heaven Blade, Dominating Knight G.o.d, Dominating Mage G.o.d and Dominating Archer G.o.d. Their cohesion was pretty good and their overall strength definitely couldn"t be underestimated. Meanwhile, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was a new guild, but it had top-tier experts such as me, Beiming Xue, Gui Guzi and first-rate experts like Chaos Moon, Murong Mingyue, Xu Yang, Moonlight Stone, Pure Love et cetera. Overall, they were at least as good as G.o.ds of Destruction, if not stronger.
Moreover, He Yi had improved by leaps and bounds since she started training seriously. Not only was her equipment much better than before, her individual skills were growing as well. Heck, this might even be the first time in years He Yi played any game this seriously. It was to the point where she used her annual leave and pushed aside her real work at GGS.
It didn"t take a genius to notice that He Yi was working very hard to improve herself, and her efforts were clearly paying off. She was sliding toward the peak of second-rate experts, and she was only one step away from being first-rate. One big battle, or should I say one evolution, was all she needed to become an expert with both beauty and skill!
……
It was at this moment a group of well-equipped and high-level players cut through the crowd and appeared between Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. It looked like they would be taking around 50 meters of the defense line. It was none other than the Top 10 guild on the Guild Ranking of Floating Ice City, Soul Battle Robes!
A breeze blew past my face as a delicate-looking female knight walked toward me. She had a spear in her hand and the emblem of the Soul Battle Robes on her shoulder. She stopped in front of me and smiled a smile only she thought was attractive. A line of text floated above her head:
Song of Cloud and Water LV-77 Silver Knight
Guild: Soul Battle Robes
Guild Position: Leader
……
d.a.m.n, it"s this girl again? Apparently she was the guild leader of Soul Battle Robes now. Her guild was at Rank 2, and she commanded nearly a thousand brave warriors. She was not to be underestimated.
A pair of dimples appeared around her cheeks as Song of Cloud and Water said, "Long time no see, Falling Dust! I wasn"t expecting to meet you here! Anyway, it looks like you"re doing pretty well in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, but would you like to develop even further in Soul Battle Robes? If you join us, you"ll still be the vice leader, and you can ask for any monthly salary you want. What do you think?"
I stared at the city walls and swore seriously, "f.u.c.k those giant beasts on the city walls man… Their Encourage buffed the mobs" Attack by at least 25%. I was wondering why these Level 81 elite mobs. .h.i.t so much harder than they should be! If only we had a couple of G.o.dly archers who could pick off all those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds from here, someone like the mythological archer Houyi!"
He Yi suggested, "Maybe Lil Beiming can give it a try?"
I shook my head. "Nah, Lil Beiming"s a girl, her arm strength isn"t enough to shoot through their tough skin. She"s not Huang Zhong, you know."
She giggled at my response.
At the side, Song of Cloud and Water stared at me while shaking, "He… he ignored me again…"
Two high-level warriors walked up to her and said, "Leader, he"s literally the soul of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. There"s no way he would join Soul Battle Robes."
Song of Cloud and Water bit her lips before shooting me an upset look. "Hmph, just you wait! You will be mine one day!"
After that, the little girl walked away, stomping her feet in anger.
……
After she was out of earshot, Murong Mingyue glanced at me. "Man, our Lu Chen sure is a popular man, isn"t he? Even a loli wants to take you for herself. I knew that you were a predator who would a.s.sault any woman who goes your way, young or old!"
I glared at her. "WTF, I am not a predator! And what do I have anything to do with this? She"s the one who threw herself at me!"
He Yi giggled again.
Murong Mingyue replied, "Eve, you"d better keep a close eye on him. I can see that he"s popular as h.e.l.l right now, and if you"re not careful he might just be stolen by someone else. Even if we overlook the little girl in Soul Battles Robes, let"s not forget that Beauty Lin wants him for Snowy Cathaya too…"
I curled my lips and declared, "You can save your energy, sis. I will not abandon He Yi."
He Yi shot me a long look before saying, "I will remember what you said…"
Unable to read the mood at all, Xu Yang interrupted, "Boss, I will never abandon you as well!"
All He Yi had to offer him was a dumbfounded expression.
Finally, the war drums started beating again. The fifth monster wave was about to begin!
……
Creak… creak...
As the heavy iron gates slowly opened, a pack of black shadows appeared from behind the b.l.o.o.d.y fog. When the mobs got close enough for us to see, we were shocked to find that they looked like some sort of mongrel with metal armor and bloodshot eyes. Their feet thudded loudly against the ground, and their mouths looked big enough to swallow an entire pig whole. Their name was especially cool.
Heaven-devouring Greedy Wolf (Elite)
Level: 83
Attack: 880~1020
Defense: 700
HP: 17000
Skills: Rend, Swallow
Introduction: A kind of Greedy Wolf with sharp claws, sharp teeth and dangerously-high offensive power. It is usually spotted in packs inside ancient forests. Once, the human empire sent an elite squad to the borders to clear them out, but they were the ones who got annihilated instead. Since then, the name "Heaven-devouring Greedy Wolf" strikes fear in the hearts of countless people.
……
Clang!
I pulled out the Purgatory Sword and pointed toward the front. I yelled, "Students, the next battle has come to us! In the name of Ancient Sword, we will never retreat!"
Behind me, all the high-level players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls also pulled out their weapons and raised it into the air. Blade gleaming intimidatingly with the light of dawn, they shouted in unison, "In the name of Ancient Sword, we will never retreat!"
The powerful shouts reverberated for a long time beneath Skull Castle, and our "soul" was almost complete. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had become sacred in our players" hearts, and soon would become something they would sacrifice even their life for!
He Yi pursed her lips and shot me an encouraging smile.
Well, I was a male undead player, and my voice was loud and awe-inspiring. Besides that, I was a CGL Hall of Famer, and that t.i.tle wasn"t something He Yi, for all her management skills, could compete with. Therefore, I was the best candidate to say something inspiring to raise our troop"s morale.
On the other hand, Snowy Cathaya didn"t have a famous player like me, so Lin Yixin had to be the one to cheer them up. When I imagined her stepping on an undead cavalry"s corpse, lifting her Moonlight Sword into the air and shouting something cool in her sweet, pa.s.sionate voice… hmm? It"s not bad either, is it?
……
"Huff! Huff! Huff!"
The Heaven-devouring Greedy Wolves swarmed us like a tsunami. They were constantly salivating, their eyes were utterly brutal, and they looked like they wanted nothing more but to slaughter us to the last. They were Level 83 elite mobs with an upper Attack limit of over 1000. They were definitely going to be trouble even for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, not to mention the rest of the guilds.
Everyone held their breaths and gripped their weapons tightly. He Yi was standing to my right, and Gui Guzi to my left. I could hear Gui Guzi swallowing loudly as his eyes shone with excitement!
Du Thirteen was now well-equipped and level to match his gear. He also showed his character as a leader and fought courageously in battle just now. Du Thirteen and I played many games together in the past, but this was the first time he truly felt like a pro. It was no wonder his face was red, and his heart was beating wildly with excitement!
……
Clang!
Not far away, the small but beautiful leader of Soul Battle Robes also pulled out her sword and declared in a cutesy voice, "We will fight a hundred battles in every corner of the world! Our warrior soul will not rest until it returns to the robe! The time to defend our honor has come, so do your best, big bros!"
"Pff…"
Countless people burst into laughter at once. Holy s.h.i.+t, is this guild really okay?
Thank goodness I hadn"t gone to Soul Battle Robes, or I would be too busy coughing out my lungs in laughter every time she "cheered us on"!
Meanwhile, Dominating Heaven Blade was standing at the front and staring at the incoming enemies sternly. Behind him, countless archers and mages were just waiting for the mobs to enter their range so that they could unleash h.e.l.l on them. But when the ugly, snarling faces of the dangerous wolf pack actually got close, everyone had to swallow a bit of fear down their throats. Heaven knows how painful it would be to be bitten by these G.o.dd.a.m.n animals!
1. General that served under warlord Liu Bei