Candlelight Shadow, G.o.d"s Dance, Transient Smoke and Clouds, and Blue Sky Scar quickly retreated from the city walls. The offensive firepower of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls" contingent of fighters was too overwhelming now that Blazing Hot Lips were backing them up with long-range support. Even a super guild that was as strong as Candle Dragon wasn"t able to hold out against all of that at the end of the day. Their players started scattering down the city walls like a wave.
Gui Guzi, Diamond Dust, and Heaven"s Rain started rampaging through the city walls with hundreds of Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen. As they swept across the enemy lines, their flas.h.i.+ng blades took away the lives of another twelve of the vaunted Seventy-two Earthly Demons. There were less than twenty of those Earthly Demons left and the sight of their ragged formation sent a chill down the spines of every Candle Dragon player nearby.
……
The remaining four siege towers finally reached the walls and a huge amount of players surged out of them. The players of Baidicheng and Blazing Hot Lips had occupied the walls as well. This had been a splendid victory for our side. We managed to break through the enemy"s defenses despite the stalwart efforts of Candle Dragon. Half of the eastern city walls now belonged to us.
There were stone stairways that led down to the city built into the city walls and they were s.p.a.ced a hundred meters apart. However, the bottom of those staircases were crowded with players, and most of them were mages and archers from Candle Dragon. We would definitely be hit by a barrage of attacks if we attempted to descend those stairs.
Gui Guzi let out a hearty laugh as he raised his spear high in the air. "It looks like Candle Dragon only amounted to this much in the end. Brothers and sisters, let"s rush down and sweep away any enemy before us!"
He Yi pursed her cherry-red lips as she glanced at me with those limpid eyes of her.
I instantly got the message so I shouted, "Wait a moment, please! Let"s not be anxious to rush down the city walls. There are too many enemy players waiting for us. If we try to enter the city one at a time, we"ll all be picked off by enemy fire before we even know it! First, I want all our magic knights to mount up and prepare their s.h.i.+elds. We"ll need you to form a line along the inner edges of these walls. Mages, archers, I want all of you to group up and start raining down on the enemy below us. We will transform these walls into our defensive line and let Candle Dragon, Hall of Immortality, and Rose of the Holy Domain get another taste of our might!"
Li Chengfeng let out a hearty laugh. "That sounds like a good strategy!"
Gui Guzi, Heaven"s Rain, and Diamond Dust immediately started organizing all the magic knights into defensive formations. Even He Yi had mounted up to take her place in the line. As they raised their s.h.i.+elds high in the air, an entire row of magic knights activated Holy s.h.i.+eld. A swarm of arrows that blotted out the sun instantly shot toward them as the enemy archers and arrow towers started firing at us. However, none of these attacks were able to take out our magic knights. Our healers had already been ready for the initial bombardment, so they started healing the defensive line the moment the first wave of arrows struck them.
Beiming Xue raised her Dragonbone String high into the air and gave a soft shout. All of our archers raised their bows in unison before I heard the tw.a.n.ging of bowstrings reverberate through the air. A dense rain of arrows poured down from the city walls. We had the high ground advantage, so these arrows. .h.i.t harder than the enemy"s. The archers and mages gathered below the walls started screaming in pain and more than a few archers had been instantly killed by our first wave of arrows.
With the advantage of high ground, we could hit them from ranges they couldn"t reach. As long as our magic knights soaked up the attacks from those arrow towers, our archers and mages could slaughter the enemy players with impunity.
……
Tempest Shadow immediately brandished his spear and roared, "f.u.c.king h.e.l.l, that punk Lu Chen is way too despicable! He"d actually launched a counterattack from the top of the city walls! To think that this b.a.s.t.a.r.d would resort to such despicable tactics!"
G.o.d"s Dance let out a soft laugh. "Lonely Grave said this once. If anyone is able to command Candlelight Shadow or Falling Dust, the virtual world is theirs to take. Hmph, that old fox Lonely Grave really did know how to pick "em. Lu Chen is very intelligent and his mechanical skill is out of this world. Now that he"s managed to regain the skills he had at his peak, he really has become an extremely terrifying opponent."
Blue Sky Scar brandished his sword and yelled, "This can"t go on! We can"t just keep holding our ground here like a bunch of idiots! We"ll incur irrevocable losses! They"re practically slaughtering us without suffering any loss at this point! Let me lead a squad up one of the staircases and try to retake the city walls! What do you think?"
G.o.d"s Dance waved a hand. "Do you have the ability to retake the city walls from Lu Chen, Legendary Brave, and Stranger of Three Lifetimes? Hehe, I don"t want to end up having to burn joss paper for you next year…"
Blue Sky Scar"s face lost its color.
Candlelight Shadow chose to chime in at this moment. He chuckled and said, "Forget it, get everyone to retreat one hundred yards from the wall. They won"t be able to hit us there."
Blue Sky Scar was absolutely shocked by those words. "Boss, aren"t we just giving them everything around the wall if we do that? Won"t we be in big trouble the moment Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls gains a foothold in this city?"
Candlelight Shadow arched his sword-like brows. "What are you afraid of? Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls has their Cyan Tiger Cavalry, but we have our own ace cavalry troop as well. Hmph, never forget that Candle Dragon is the number one guild in all of China. Even though we lost most of the Seventy-two Earthly Demons, we still have the Thirty-six Heavenly Spirits in reserve. Hehe, naturally, the Heavenly Spirits are more powerful than the Earthly Demons…"
Blue Sky Scar"s eyes shone as he asked, "Are we really going to mobilize our cavalry unit?"
"Of course!"
"That"s great!"
In the next instant, Blue Sky Scar waved his hand and swiftly retreated together with the combined forces of Candle Dragon, Hall of Immortality, Rose of the Holy Domain, and Throne Seeker, leaving a huge empty s.p.a.ce in front of us.
……
He Yi rubbed her eyes as she observed the enemy alliance"s actions from the top of the walls. "Hey, my eyes aren"t playing tricks on me right? Candle Dragon willingly gave up the territory around the wall?"
I nodded my head. "They are making a tactical retreat. They"re not stupid after all. If they held their ground and allowed us to continue our counterattack, they would incur huge losses. I would"ve done the same thing if I were them."
Gui Guzi said, "So what do we do, Boss Broken Halberd?
I gave a small smile. "It"s time for the Cyan Tiger Cavalry to show their might once more. Gui Guzi, I want you, Heaven"s Rain, and Diamond Dust to a.s.semble a squad each and follow me down the city walls. We will charge all the way to the city gate and help The Monarch Descends bust it open from the inside. That will allow the bulk of our Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen who are still stuck outside to pour into the city and ravage it! Chengfeng, Xu Yang, Thirteen, take command of the rest of our elite players. After we start charging toward the gate, I want you to infiltrate the city and destroy whatever you can lay your hands on. You have one main objective. Destroy those d.a.m.ned arrow towers. Destroying all the arrow towers in Immortality City will pluck Hall of Immortality"s fangs."
Li Chengfeng and the rest nodded their heads in unison. "We hear you loud and clear!"
……
The Armored Ice Qilin Horse gave a loud neigh as it reared backward and leaped off the city wall at my urging. Holy s.h.i.+t!
Thankfully, the Ice Qilin Horse"s tenacity was very high, so a simple fall wouldn"t hurt it much.
Bang!
The cobblestones cracked as the Ice Qilin Horse landed heavily on the ground. It quickly found a firm footing and I saw that its tenacity hadn"t taken a big hit either. Tenacity was something that regenerated very quickly and it would be back up to full in about two or three minutes. As long as I didn"t suffer a string of critical hits, it would be very hard to dismount me.
He Yi, Gui Guzi, Heaven"s Rain, and Diamond Dust had all leaped off the city walls as well while the other riders had surged down the stone steps. In the blink of an eye, three hundred riders from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls quickly grouped up inside the city. Candlelight Shadow and his men were staring at us with fierce and hungry eyes just a hundred meters away from us.
I raised my arm to block the attack from those arrow towers. Fortunately for us, those arrow towers could only attack pre-established areas. If someone could freely control them and focus on a single target, there wasn"t a single person on our side who could survive the rain of iron arrows for more than two minutes.
I quickly surveyed the battlefield. There were about a thousand Hall of Immortality players bunched up below the city gates. It was the existence of this group of players that had stopped The Monarch Descends from breaching the city gates for an entire hour. If that wasn"t bad enough, they were getting slaughtered by the Candle Dragon players stationed on the walls instead. No matter how good Ling Xueshang was, she was helpless before the prowess of the mighty Candle Dragon.
I pointed my sword toward the city gate and yelled, "It"s time to seize those gates and link up with our allies from The Monarch Descends! Brothers and sisters of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, charge!"
He Yi, Heaven"s Rain, and Diamond Dust"s laughter tinkled in the air. Meanwhile, Gui Guzi brandished his spear and laughed before he yelled, "Charge! Show them no mercy!"
Horse hooves thundered through the air. Even though there were only about three hundred of us, we were the elite of the elite. With the four Famous General Skills, Martial G.o.d, Knight G.o.d, Royal Road, and Knight General, the stats of our group were extraordinarily high. The Cyan Battle Tiger was originally a very high-rank mount in the first place, so we fearlessly shrugged off the attacks of the enemy players around us!
I spurred the Armored Ice Qilin Horse forward as I welcomed the countless fire b.a.l.l.s, icicles, and arrows being shot at me. I dove straight into a group of enemy players in the next instant. After that, I quickly glanced at my pet s.p.a.ce and realized that my Phantom Wolf King had been killed without me noticing! I summoned it again, causing my little wolf to burst out of the magic circle and let out a savage howl. Its blood-colored fur stood on end as b.l.o.o.d.y clouds gathered in the sky above it. Purgatory Storm!
"Charge!"
I slaughtered my way through the crowd of enemies, my blade flas.h.i.+ng left and right. I cycled through Thousand Ice Slash, Burning Blade Slash, and War Crush as quickly as I could, causing explosions to rip through anyone unfortunate enough to be caught in my path. My insane attack power left a trail of bodies piled up in my wake.
Gui Guzi, Diamond Dust, and Heaven"s Rain were hot on my heels. Gui Guzi"s Aurora Thrust skewered a bunch of players and dropped their health to critical levels.
He Yi flew toward them and sentenced them to death with Purgatory of Ice and Magma. The ground beneath the city gates cracked open as the five blades of icy sword energy tore into the enemy players. A huge amount of damage numbers instantly popped up into the air as Hall of Immortality"s players died without being able to do anything.
……
In the short span of five minutes, we had swept through the enemy formation and cut down enemy players like gra.s.s. The entire thousand-man contingent from Hall of Immortality had been wiped out by our fierce attack!
Gui Guzi flew forward and thrust his spear at the lever which held the city gates shut. The thick ropes instantly started moving and the gates swung open in the matter of seconds.
The bulk of the Cyan Tiger Cavalry had been faithfully waiting outside the gates for this precise moment. When it swung open, they instantly flooded in. The disciplined formation of The Monarch Descends was positioned right behind them, and our allies were also prepared to rush in at any moment.
Longbow in hand, Ling Xueshang also ran over. She grinned at us as she said, "Did Candlelight Shadow voluntarily give up his defense of the city walls? Tsk, that a.s.shole"s plan went off without a hitch on this end though. We were forced to endure the baptism of those arrow towers and it was clear that they were trying to bait us into entering a killzone!"
He Yi quickly surveyed the area before she laughed and said, "Xueshang, if Candlelight Shadow was really trying to corral you into a killzone, he would"ve stationed troops outside to attack you at the right moment. We had better watch our backs!"
Ling Xueshang giggled. "Sister He Yi, there"s no need to worry. Hmph, I already saw through Candle Dragon"s plans. Candle Dragon"s main guild and their ten strongest subguilds entered Immortality City while they stationed nearly twenty subguilds outside the city. They had gathered nearly 150000 players to launch a counter-offensive against us. However, I already prepared 100000 players of my own and Sister See The Snow from Baidicheng also sent over many players to guard the eastern city walls. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is the cutting edge of our attack during this war, and we"ll have to rely on you and your men to rip apart Candle Dragon"s defenses."
He Yi shot me a saccharine-sweet smile. "Yeah, I"m leaving it all to Lu Chen!"
The muscles on my face spasmed as I rubbed the Armored Ice Qilin Horse"s head and said, "Yeah, no pressure, huh…"
……
At this moment, Gui Guzi suddenly thrust his spear forward to point at something. He said, "Boss Broken Halberd, take a look at that! Candle Dragon has finally responded. f.u.c.k, that looks like a really fierce cavalry troop…."
Expressions of shock and dismay appeared on everyone"s face as they looked in the direction of his spear.
1. Just like in the last chapter, these Heavenly Spirits are a reference to Water Margin and their 108 Stars of Destiny. The 36 Heavenly Spirits are considered the main heroes of the story.