This huge valley resembled a gigantic basin.
At least two thousand players belonging to Warsky Alliance appeared on one of the hills adjacent to this basin as they stared at the players below them with hungry eyes. Meanwhile, Hegemon Palace had become a turtle in a jar. Nearly a thousand high-level players from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls were smas.h.i.+ng through their frontlines while Warsky Alliance were waiting to pounce on them from behind. However, neither of these things were more distressing than the fierce attacks of the boss they were facing!
Whoos.h.!.+
A biting wind blew through the valley and every attack the Death Lord made killed scores of players. Every attack struck in a 3-yard radius, dealing damage to everyone inside that area. These attacks were especially devastating to the players of Hegemon Palace.
The first golden rays of morning light began to illuminate the valley and the dense fog that filled it disappeared in the blink of an eye, restoring everyone"s vision to normal.
“This doesn"t look too good…” He Yi said as she furrowed her brow.
She continued, “Warsky Alliance will attack us the moment we begin to fight the boss. They won"t just sit there and watch us take it for ourselves. It"s a bit troublesome now. The most important thing is that we can"t kill this boss within a short period of time, so now it"s become a game of hot potato…”
I nodded in agreement. “Let"s fall back for now and put some distance between us and Hegemon Palace. Let"s do what Warsky Alliance is doing right now. We"ll sit back and wait for the right opportunity to strike!”
“Okay!”
After He Yi gave the order, every player from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls retreated as fast as they could from the fighting. This lifted a huge burden off the minds of the players of Hegemon Palace, allowing them to focus all their efforts on the boss.
He Yi led from the front as the guild climbed up a small hill. As she looked down into the valley below, she realized that they had found quite a good spot to observe the festivities. The hill was hard to attack and easy to defend, and if they charged down, they could reach the boss in five minutes. He Yi"s strategic grasp of terrain was still as outstanding as ever.
We gathered on the side of the hill. The players in the valley below might not be able to see all of us due to the trees and foliage but we could observe everything that was going on in the valley.
“We"ll make our move when the boss"s HP drops to 25%,” He Yi said.
“Okay.”
Li Chengfeng, Beiming Xue, Xu Yang, and I nodded our heads in unison.
……
It was right at this very moment, right after we had retreated, that another group of players rushed into the valley. The player leading them was a Level 107 magic knight riding a fiery red Greedy Wolf. He was dressed in a suit of exquisite steel armor and he was wielding a long spear that shone with a resplendent light. Seated by his side was a beautiful archer.
It was none other than the long-lost leader of the Mad Dragon guild—Roaming Dragon!
The corner of He Yi"s lips started curling up into a grin, revealing her charming dimples. As she looked at the situation unfolding in the valley, she chuckled. “I thought that Mad Dragon was about to vanish from Sky City, but it looks like Roaming Dragon has been biding his time all this while. Hmm, their current levels and skills look pretty good. It"s clear that Mad Dragon has been using this time to raise their strength rather than partic.i.p.ate in PvP!”
“Mn!”
I nodded my head as I stared at the Mad Dragon players milling about in the valley. Who would"ve thought that a punk like Roaming Dragon would actually obtain a mount that looked respectable. Even though it wasn"t as good as Gui Guzi"s land dragon or He Yi"s warhorse, the Snow Domain Windchaser, it looked pretty good. This guy"s luck was pretty good, and he must"ve used up all of it taming this mount!
Also, as Roaming Dragon"s woman, Coldmoon Rose had pretty decent equipment as well. Her leather armor shone with a golden light and as far as I could tell, she was wearing three pieces of Dark Gold–grade and two pieces of Purple Gold–grade equipment. The bow in her hand also seemed to be of the Purple Gold grade. However, her items didn"t seem to be glowing with prismatic light, so I could tell at a glance that none of her items were Outstanding.
Behind Coldmoon Rose came Mad Dragon"s Gemini Stars, two people I hadn"t seen in a while. The magic knight Inconstant was clad in s.h.i.+mmering platemail as he came riding in on a Pesterhide Wolf, a mount that seemed to be the same as the one Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun had tamed. Meanwhile, his partner, the warrior Iron Pardon, hefted his longsword as he calmly surveyed the area.
These two were the real elites of the Mad Dragon guild and this was something that Roaming Dragon was well aware of.
……
“As expected, a lot of people came to compete with us…” Beiming Xue said with a laugh. “It looks like the introduction of the territory system even managed to lure Mad Dragon out. As expected, the territory system is going to cause a war!”
Li Chengfeng let out a guffaw. “Time to take out the popcorn!”
“Mn!”
In the valley below, Roaming Dragon rushed to the front of his guild"s formation as he lifted up his spear and waved it high in the air. He yelled, “Friends of Hegemon Palace, this Death Lord is something that belongs to all the players of Sky City. It isn"t quite right for your guild to monopolize it, right?”
A look of rage appeared on the face of Pillar of the Nation as he walked up to confront Roaming Dragon.
“Roaming Dragon, what the h.e.l.l are you trying to say? Are you trying to s.n.a.t.c.h this boss from us?”
“So what if I am?”
“Heh heh, if you want to gobble up this piece of fatty meat, you can try it! Though I don"t know if your fangs are strong enough!”
“I can certainly try!”
Roaming Dragon waved his spear once more as he roared, “Brothers of Mad Dragon, charge! Destroy Hegemon Palace and the boss will be ours!”
Battle cries tore through the air as the ma.s.sed-up forces of the Mad Dragon guild surged into the valley and charged toward the forces belonging to Hegemon Palace.
Shockingly enough, more and more Mad Dragon players poured into the valley, and there seemed to be no end of them in sight. In a single instant, more than five thousand players had entered the battlefield.
WTF, has Mad Dragon truly gone insane?
……
Xu Yang sucked in a deep breath before speaking up, “Just like what we"ve heard, Mad Dragon has been acc.u.mulating strength and waiting for the right opportunity to act. I"ve heard that Roaming Dragon has been madly recruiting players from all over and he"s been spending recklessly to get them to join. He"s even recruited whole teams of players from Wind City and Vanished G.o.d City. They not only have five thousand people in their main Rank 4 guild, they even have four other branch guilds, and each of those guilds are at Rank 3 with two thousand people each!”
Li Chengfeng"s lips curled into a smile. “When it comes to numbers, we"re definitely about to lose ground to Mad Dragon.”
High Fighting Spirits slung his axe across his shoulder disdainfully as he grinned. “However, each of us is worth ten of theirs! What we focus on is individual fighting strength! This is something that Mad Dragon will never be able to match, no matter how many horses they flog to death!”
Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun laughed at those words. “Indeed, even ten Mad Dragon players at once wouldn"t be our match! Even though the Mad Dragon guild has the advantage in numbers, Hegemon Palace might still be too much for them to overcome.”
“Hehe…” I also let out a chuckle. “Well let"s just take a break from PvP for now. There"s a show for us to watch!”
“Hahaha…”
Everyone laughed knowingly. It really was quite refres.h.i.+ng to just sit back and enjoy the show sometimes.
……
A b.l.o.o.d.y melee was brewing in the valley. Iron Pardon and Inconstant killed off a priest named Profound Puff who was on the frontlines and was reputedly a vice leader of the guild. Little Piglet cried as he hugged Profound Puff"s cold body, but his sorrow soon turned into strength. He roared in rage as he hefted his longsword in the air and charged toward the Gemini Stars.
The conclusion of that battle surprised everyone. Iron Pardon and Inconstant were both taken out in under a minute. Little Piglet"s halo was s.h.i.+ning brilliantly, and no one could stop him. He rampaged through the frontlines of the Mad Dragon guild"s formation, his bravery and ferocity unmatched by any other player.
Pillar of the Nation was overcome with joy as he patted Little Piglet on the back and exclaimed, “You really are my Fan Kuai!”
But Mad Dragon had brought a lot of players, so Little Piglet had no choice but to retreat under an endless rain of long-range attacks. Meanwhile, Hegemon Palace"s Shangguan Wan"er suddenly disappeared from the sight of Mad Dragon"s frontline players. However, she soon popped up in the rear of Mad Dragon"s formation, and she announced her appearance by killing more than a dozen mages and priests in a row. Daggers were, after all, remarkably good at breaking the magic s.h.i.+elds of casters.
Roaming Dragon"s face turned bitter when he saw this, but by the time he ordered his troops to kill Shangguan Wan"er, the little a.s.sa.s.sin girl had already vanished into thin air
Even though Shangguan Wan"er"s equipment and mechanical skill wasn"t as good as a.s.sa.s.sins in the CGL Hall of Fame like Farewell Song and Moonkiss, her strength was still something to be reckoned with. At the very least, there was no one in Mad Dragon that was her match when it came to one-on-one PvP skills.
……
As Xu Yang observed the battle in the valley, he licked his lips and grinned. “This Little Piglet"s ferocious. He"d actually survived despite charging all the way into the enemy"s formation. What shocking strength.”
Chaos Moon immediately retorted, “Xu Yang, you don"t get it. The only reason why Little Piglet is able to charge in and out of the enemy"s formation with impunity is because Mad Dragon doesn"t have a proper expert. If any one between Beiming Xue, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, or Vice Leader Broken Halberd was inserted into Mad Dragon"s formation, I"m afraid that Little Piglet would die without even knowing what hit him!”
Pure Love"s laughter tinkled in the air. “Exactly, exactly! It"s just a monkey becoming the king of a mountain with no tigers!”
Their retorts left Xu Yang speechless. He had no choice but to nod his head and say, “Ladies, the two of you are truly blessed with quick wits and n.o.ble characters!”
The two girls were overcome with glee.
……
However, Hegemon Palace could only hold on for a little while longer. The human wave tactic of Mad Dragon was simply too overwhelming, and the Death Lord still had 57% of its HP. Hegemon Palace was nowhere near killing it, and Pillar of the Nation felt despair cloud his heart. However, he had always been a flexible person, so he yelled as loud as he could, “Little Piglet, Wan"er, let"s not force the issue! Let"s retreat and give up the boss for now!”
After that, a bunch of players from Hegemon Palace tried to flee through the center of the valley. Unfortunately for them, Roaming Dragon was determined to wipe them all out because he sent a small army after them.
Regret was filling Pillar of the Nation"s heart. If he had brought more people from Hegemon Palace with him, there was no way Mad Dragon would have been able to force them to retreat.
……
Players from Mad Dragon started to ma.s.s around the boss and even though their losses were heavy, they could see the boss"s HP steadily falling. Killing it would only be a matter of time.
“Three thousand more people from Mad Dragon are going to have to die before they can kill the Death Lord,” Li Chengfeng said with confidence.
Xu Yang let out a hearty laugh. “That"s already a foregone conclusion. Moreover, our people are already itching for battle. The moment we make a move, even the loss of those three thousand players will be in vain!”
It was precisely at this moment that the situation suddenly changed. Bloodthirsty howls rang out from every direction as a large amount of players surged into the basin. The huge army that was composed of more than a dozen guilds had finally arrived and stretched as far as the eye could see!
“This battle is descending into anarchy…” I muttered under my breath.
Li Chengfeng stared at the army in stunned amazement. “It"s gotten even more chaotic, b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l…”
……
Flower Room and G.o.ds of Destruction had also thrown themselves into the fray and even small guilds like Snow of Frozen River, Zero Pitch Sonata, and Heavenly Plan Palace had decided to join in the festivities. The era of heroes vying for supremacy had officially begun!
Battle cries shook the air as the valley instantly turned into a sea of blood. The boss was in the center of all of this chaos and everyone rushed toward it. If a player saw someone from another guild, they would instantly attack them, and even Dominating Heaven Blade waded towards the front, his eyes red with bloodl.u.s.t.
He Yi observed the battle going on in the valley. She looked rather dumbfounded as she said, “Given the current circ.u.mstances, will we still be able to force our way in?”
“...”
……
At this moment, Li Chengfeng suddenly said, “Did you guys notice something? The guilds Warsky Alliance, G.o.ds of Destruction, and Hegemon Palace have all shown up, but one guild still hasn"t arrived. It"s almost as if this guild has given up on the chance to take this boss down.”
“Snowy Cathaya?” everyone said in unison.
1. This is a three kingdoms reference, Cao Cao called Xu Zhu, one of his generals, "my Fan Kuai" after witnessing his strength.
Fan Kuai is a famous general of Liu Bang, the founder of the Han Dynasty!