64. Lost… Hei QiYao can"t log onto A.O. everyday. The next time he logged on would be Sat.u.r.day when Guild Wars would be held.
As the Guild Leader, he"d promised his guildies if they took down another Prole fortress, the Heretic Demons guild would have a gathering in real life. Hence, every member of the guild had been rubbing their paws together in antic.i.p.ation of the thrilling moment they"d create together today.
As usual, XiaoYu arrived early to the base at just past 5. He sat down and had dinner with the tiny cat. Meanwhile, all team leaders" eyes were stuck to QiYao the moment he"d logged on. They then discussed defence arrangements for Prole-3 and Prole-4 along with the attack plans for the third fortress. As a result, the two had yet to speak to each other since their parting.
When the team leaders were finally willing to let QiYao go and dispersed to finish their preparations, it was already 6.30 pm. The Healer Squad was already at work. They needed to send their fellow guild members to their allocated spots before the event started.
"XiaoYu, already working?" QiYao didn"t leave Prole-3. He knew XiaoYu should have started working on his portals by now. Hence, the message was sent through a private message.
"Yes."
"After the battle, come to Prole-3"s Crystal Room, okay? I"ve got something to tell you." The Guild Leader of an occupied fortress could personalise entrance permissions of a fortress once the event was over. That would stay until the next Guild Wars where it"d be reset to default once more.
"Okay."
"You can keep working, then."
"Yes. Good luck."
"Mn." Because of those two words, they must not lose Prole-3 today.
While XiaoYu didn"t know what QiYao wanted to tell him, the busy XiaoYu still put his curiosity aside and focused on his portals.
"Chief, all NPC guards in Prole-3 are ready," said Poor_Man as he stumbled and swayed into the Crystal Room.
"Mn."
"You"re in a good mood today. Something good happen?" Poor_Man was the type to think those who didn"t gossip when there"s gossip before them were all idiots. Since there were still a few minutes before the battle started, he was going to start chatting with QiYao about anything and everything. Still, he didn"t hold any hopes for the ever-silent Chief to tell him anything.
"Lin Qiong."
"Yes!" Poor_Man instinctively called out when he heard QiYao call him by his real name. It was very strange, though. It"s rare to hear Chief call him by that name in the game. Was Chief going to increase his salary from seeing how hard he"d been working lately?
"…" As QiYao stared down Poor_Man, he internally debated whether to tell the other man he loved XiaoYu? On one hand, they were close friends for many years. He should notify the other. On the other, QiYao knew just how much Poor_Man cared for XiaoYu. While he didn"t know what the other thought of XiaoYu, he still didn"t want his friend to step in before he could get to XiaoYu.
"Um…Chief, if you keep staring at me like that, I"ll think you"ve fallen in love with me." Poor_Man hated silent moments the most. Rather than being stared at by QiYao, he"d much prefer to go play with Eggy in Prole-4.
"The one I like is XiaoYu."
"I know. Didn"t you always like Xiao-Yu?"
"I mean that kind of like."
"Mn. Yes."
"How do you know…?" it was QiYao"s turn to find things strange. Even he"d just realised his own intentions. Why does it feel like the entire world knows?
"What can I say? I"ve known you for so long. It"s my first time seeing you pay so much attention to a person and not just games." When Poor_Man noticed QiYao"s confusion, he stopped joking around. "At first, I thought you liked women. I"ve never seen you get interested in men before. But then your ex-girlfriends all complain to me about how you don"t like them at all. I thought you just ignored them because you were too focused on games and work. That"s until I witnessed how you treat Xiao-Yu. Only then did I finally get why they say a women"s intuition is always right."
Poor_Man paused and refilled his lungs. "I thought that perhaps you wouldn"t know what gender you prefer until you find someone suited for you," he continued in a serious tone. "Perhaps you just like Xiao-Yu. Even if he was a girl, maybe you"ll still like him. But…Xiao-Yu is a very good child. This type of kid fear pain the most. QiYao, if you"re really going to like him, to love him, then never ever hurt him."
"I know. How could I bear to?"
"That"ll do. As long as your mind is settled, as your friend, I will support you with all my might." Poor_Man patted QiYao on the shoulder, then he was suddenly struck by a thought. In one exaggerated leap, his hand shrank back and he retreated backwards. "You"re not telling me that to warn me not to touch Xiao-Yu, right? You"re mistaken, Chief. I absolutely do not think of him that way. I can swear to the G.o.ds right now I like huge b.o.o.bs."
"Even if you like Xiao-Yu, I would choose a fair compet.i.tion," QiYao said with a slight smile. He was used to his friend"s split-second switches from serious mode to goofy. He had to admit, Poor_Man was a friend who was very worth befriending. He would always point things out and remind him of certain things during key moments.
"Heh…Heh…Chief, relax. I won"t fight with you." While Poor_Man thought Chief"s smile was very nice, such a confident and scheming smile was usually directed to his business rivals. Then, that person would have a horrible end.
Poor_Man liked Xiao-Yu too, but his liking was based on friendship. It was vastly different to Chief"s "like". That"s because he wouldn"t get all jealous over something minor. Hee-hee.
Time ticked by. Tonight"s Guild Wars officially started. It was three hours before QiYao"s and XiaoYu"s meeting.
Tonight"s battle opened up with I Die For Riches taking back Sakur3. They had an easy time because the Heretic Demons didn"t send any players to defend it at all.
As concluded from the last meeting, the Heretic Demons" main battlefield was Prole. Hence, their tactics were formed with Prole-3 as its centre. Then, they"d spread to the four other fortresses. Egg_Tart"s Suicide Squad was in charge of Prole-4"s upper left corner"s defences. The first two hours of the event was spent punching in at the other three fortresses being fought over. Only at the last hour would they aim for their true target at full force.
Except for the announcement of the Wings occupying Seric3 halfway through the event, opening up another battlefield and causing a minor ruckus, the Heretic Demons" plan went smoothly. Occasionally, there"d be a few I Die For Riches teams who"d come looking for trouble, but they"d be bounce back by the solid defences. The minor guilds tried their luck a few times, but when all efforts proved fruitless, they turned their attentions to other fortresses. There were moments where Prole-3 and Prole-4 had no business at all and one could hear a pin drop at the walls.
In the last hour, the main forces of each subsidiary guild would receive notice to leave for an attack on the upper right corner of Prole-5. Prole-3 and Prole-4 had weakened defences as a result, but the Squad Leaders" orders for everyone to be on high alert in the event of a last-minute ambush were obeyed.
"Looks like today would be easy." Guildies in Prole-4 have started talking on Public chat channels.
"Yes, but we can"t let down our guard. Healers and magicians, focus on lighting up and patrolling every corner with your skills." There were no special missions that required XiaoYu"s unique skills today, so Egg_Tart remained in command of Prole-4. He strolled through all the stations in Prole-4, reminding the chatting guildies to stay on guard and do their jobs.
SleepEveryDay: Leader, all of our teams attacking Prole-5 have successfully pa.s.sed Level 2.
WorkEveryDay: We"re getting ready to meet up with the main guild on the third level and charge through Levels 4 and 5.
The "EveryDay" siblings piped up in the Suicide Squad chat to share the progress of their guild"s teams. Only the few Egg_Tart had given permission to could use the Guild chat to distribute new information. Everyone else must use other channels at all times to prevent important messages from being drowned.
"Wow. That"s great. Perhaps our guild can get another fortress again."
"Impossible. One for the main guild and two for the subsidiaries? We"d be chased down by the main guild then."
"What can we do? The EveryDay bros are just too awesome."
"True, true. Keep at it, guys!"
Guild chat channels everywhere were immediately filled with intense debates. Everyone was fantasising seeing their guild"s name being announced by the game later on.
"Ah, an a.s.sa.s.sin!"
"Kill him!"
"He"s gone. Probably went back to Prole."
"Did you see the guild logo?" (Within fortress walls, all players would have their guild"s logo floating above their heads.)
"It looked yellow. I didn"t get a clear look."
"Head outside and see if there"s a crowd."
"I did. There was no one."
This was a minor interlude that occurred at the East Gate of Prole-4. The chatting guards suddenly found a sneaking a.s.sa.s.sin. As that a.s.sa.s.sin quickly escaped back to the capital and there were no signs outside the fortress of players gathering, no one paid much heed to it and no one reported it to their superiors.
The more peaceful it was, the duller one became. This was quickly proven accurate a few minutes later.
Red light rained down on them and a large troop of I Die For Riches players blinked into existence at Prole-4"s East Gate. The gate defences are down! Everyone, look out!
Those who died swiftly conveyed the above message the instant they resp.a.w.ned. At first, it was just a few tanky knights. Soon, more and more players arrived at Prole-4 and the guards were soon overwhelmed. The last thing they saw before they disappeared back to their base was a field full of I Die For Riches" golden logo.
"Sir, do we need to head back to back you up?" messaged the EveryDay brothers to Egg_Tart. While they were now at the fourth level of Prole-5, they couldn"t help worrying at the sight of those messages about the emergency.
"…No. You keep it up at Prole-5. We can hold them." After some consideration, Egg_Tart decided not to summon non-Prole-4 members. They didn"t have a lot of players and NPCs guarding each city. After a.s.signing them to defending each layer of the fortress"s defences, they only had a few left to guard the City Crystal Room. Even if his own team members fell in battle, they should be able to charge through the portals, fill in the gaps left behind and hold the line.
Prole-4 was the type of city that"s easy to invade but hard to defend. There were two huge spiral staircases to the left and right of the great hall on Level 3 that went straight into the Crystal Room. This was also why the Heretic Demons started off with this as their first target.
Egg_Tart walked out of the Crystal Room. He peeked down at the hall"s situation from the spot upstairs between the two staircases. There were quite a few guild members there. This was an important line of defence. Everyone had their serious faces on. Soon, 7 or 8 Knights rushed in, followed shortly by other players. After a while, it was all a mess.
According to usual PvP rules, players would first attack healers and magicians. After exterminating the healers and the fragile gla.s.s cannons, players would then slowly grind down the others. As a result, the trained Suicide Squad focused their sights on the healers and wizards. The opponent seemed to have the same idea. The archers all aimed at the healers hiding at the back. A great battle was had at the expansive great hall.
As time went by, numbers on both sides went down bit by bit. The fragile players kept dying and leaving the battlefield. The only ones left were a few tanky but weak Knights. Then, something unexpected happened. A huge number of I Die For Riches players appeared around those Knights out of nowhere. Quite a few of them were the faces of the players who"d just fallen. They were outnumbered in all manner of ways. The Heretic Demons panicked. Egg_Tart who was observing from above was shocked. But he had no more time to think on the incident after the shock died down. He hurried back into the Crystal Room.
Egg_Tart (Guild Leader): Attention to all Heretic Demons, everyone head to the Crystal Room. I Die For Riches"s Knights might have a special ability or item that could summon teammates. Everyone, hurry back and defend! Focus your attacks on those Knights!
"You must hold on until reinforcements arrive!" Egg_Tart shouted to the guarding players. This room was smaller than the other Crystal Rooms. That"s why the main defensive post was the great hall downstairs.
However, the current situation was looking very bad for them. The players downstairs were at their limits and they didn"t know if the summons came from a skill or an item. If it was a former, then those opponents would keep coming back as long as the Knights were alive. If it were the later, then who knew just how many they have left. Either way, if the Knights kept summoning, none of the killed Heretic Demons would be able to head back in time to defend anything.
He was too c.o.c.ky! Egg_Tart didn"t have time to berate himself anymore. The most important task at hand was to protect Prole-4. They cannot lose the fortress now.
The remaining few guards outside were quickly defeated. I Die For Riches split their troops in half and charged up both staircases to the Crystal Room. The Heretic Demons had never prayed for Guild Wars to end faster before, but time crawled by like a snail. All of Suicide Squad"s hearts were poised at the edge of a cliff.
"Congratulations, Guild Heretic Demons, on conquering Prole-5."
A moment before, the guild members of the main Heretic Demons guild was celebrating conquering the third fortress. The next, came an announcement that shocked everyone.
"Congratulations, Guild I Die For Riches, on conquering Prole-4."
Prole-4 was lost.
After they lost Prole-4, time seemed to speed up all of a sudden. No matter how fast the Heretic Demons regathered and charged back into the new battlefield, time was up. This time, the Heretic Demons still ended the event with two fortresses conquered.
"Our gathering…it"s gone." Everyone who knew of the plan was so very disappointed.
"I"m sorry. Today was my fault." In the special chat channel, Egg_Tart gravely apologised to the higher-ups of Heretic Demons. He didn"t know what he felt right then, but he knew he"d disappointed everyone.
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