"Hah!"
As he let out an explosive yell, the wild streams of b.e.s.t.i.a.l energy swirled around High Fighting Spirits and tore through the armors and s.h.i.+elds of the magic knights around him. As one of the fierce generals of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, High Fighting Spirits immediately unleashed Xiezhi Howl when he hit the ground, his ferocious attack scaring the wits out of the Northern Alliance players around him. In fact, his strong Attack allowed him to one-shot some of these riders even though he wasn"t mounted himself!
High Fighting Spirits lost more than 40000 HP when he fell. Murong Mingyue and Moon Dew hurriedly waved their magic staves in the air when they saw this, pulling his HP back up! They would make sure that we would be able to keep fighting!
The sleeve of her robe swung out gracefully as energy erupted from her sword. The five consecutive attacks of Purgatory of Ice and Magma exploded into a group of Northern Alliance players, sending them straight to heaven.
I yelled, "Eve, Fighting Spirits, charge together with me. We need to push the battle line away from our walls! Chaos Moon, Xu Yang, Little Gui, Heaven"s Rain, use this opportunity to summon your mounts!"
Summoning one"s mount only required two to five seconds, but if a player was interrupted while summoning their mount, they would have to wait for thirty seconds to begin the summoning again. The attacks of both High Fighting Spirits and I had cleared out a s.p.a.ce for the rest of the frontline fighters who had jumped down the walls, so they could use this short lull to summon their mounts.
……
"Neigh…"
Whinnies rang out in the air as a dozen Dragonlight Armored Horses appeared behind me. Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, and the rest of them quickly leaped onto their horses and charged forward. Gui Guzi activated Knight G.o.d, causing their stats to shoot up like a rocket. It was time for High Fighting Spirits and I to retreat and summon our mounts.
I summoned the Ice Qilin Horse and flipped myself on its back. He Yi and High Fighting Spirits summoned their mounts as well and soon, there was nearly a score of mounted experts pacing beneath the walls of Dawn City. We were fully buffed and we had our priests nursing us, so the Dragonlight Cavalry was currently enjoying something they hadn"t been able to enjoy during this entire Nation War. As long as we had priests healing us, we were practically unkillable and this joyous feeling was something that we couldn"t experience as we were charging behind enemy lines.
"Everyone is to defend a line of twenty meters on their own. We"ll be able to defend the entire northern part of our wall that way. The firepower coming from up the fortifications needs to be able to keep up with us as well. Priests, I don"t care whether you"re a player from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls or not, please focus all of your healing on the Dragonlight Cavalrymen below. We can"t allow the northern wall to take too many hits from their siege weapons. If we do, it"s over for us!"
I shouted orders as I raised my longsword in the air, transforming into the dignified commander of the northern battlefront. Truth be told, I had been personally directing the entire war effort of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls from the beginning of this Nation War, but to be able to command an entire front by myself was something else altogether!
……
A huge black shadow flew through the air!
Clang!
A gigantic obsidian boulder heavily crashed into He Yi"s s.h.i.+eld and sent our beautiful guild leader staggering backward. Her shoulder slammed into the city wall as her Dragonlight Spirit Beast lost 10% of its tenacity. She had also lost a little over 10000 HP from that strike alone. It was actually quite fortunate that the boulder had hit He Yi. It would have left a gaping hole in our wall if it had missed her.
I looked up at the ramparts and shouted, "Beiming, gather a group of archers and use your Range stratagem to destroy those catapults. Do you think it"s possible?"
Beiming Xue nodded her head. "It"s no problem at all, big bro!"
Soon, a stream of swift and fierce arrows flew from our city walls and fell on the enemy. A gigantic catapult collapsed to the ground shortly after the arrows had fallen, the exploding arrows tearing it apart.
Boulders kept flying toward us and we were having a very hard time blocking all of them. Thankfully, every player who had leapt down from the walls was an expert, so it was impossible for any of us to get one-shot by these boulders.
"Bring it on, grandsons! Your granddaddy is here!"
High Fighting Spirits twirled his warhammer in the air, gusts of wind accompanying his every blow. His bracers shone with light as he swung his weapon. It was an Earth-grade item that had a set chance of triggering an AoE hurricane with every attack. This had come in very handy during this Nation War. He had blasted the Northern Alliance players with thousands of hurricanes throughout this Nation War, and it had allowed him to quietly acc.u.mulate enough war points for him to be ranked among the Top 20 in China. Everyone knew that warriors generally couldn"t acc.u.mulate as many points as archers and mages. There were two main reasons for that. First, we needed to get near to the enemy to kill them. Second, we didn"t have many AoE attacks in the first place. Therefore, all the frontline fighters who managed to be ranked in the Top 20 on the Nation War contribution ranking were outstanding experts.
I immediately positioned myself in front of the city gates. I struck an imposing figure as my Phantom Wolf King and clone, which was barely alive, moved to stand behind me. I guarded the place by myself as my attacks kept triggering the Cyan Netherworld Sword"s dragon soul attack and my ring"s Silver Dragon Storm. My attacks were so fierce that one group of Northern Alliance players veered away from me. They stared at me with frightened eyes as they allowed their archers and mages to focus their fire on me. I quickly backpedaled to avoid most of the skills, allowing Stranger of Three Lifetimes and Beiming Xue to deal with those pesky long-range attackers.
……
Twenty Dragonlight Cavalrymen defended the northern wall by themselves for an entire half an hour. We didn"t let any enemy player successfully scale the walls during this time.
The Northern Alliance simply couldn"t bear to watch this farce any longer. The sound of hooves thundered in the air as a troop of cavalrymen charged toward us. They looked very familiar from the distance and as they drew closer, I soon realized that they were our old friends, the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry! Their Spirit Rank boss mounts were incredibly strong and there were around 30000 of them here! No one had thought that Hero City would still have so many of these high-level riders after we buried 50000 of them at the base of the Dragonbone Mountain Range.
"Be careful, those grandsons are really fierce!" I shouted as I raised my sword high in the air.
A large unit of Bloodthirst Beast Cavalrymen had already rushed over by the time I finished speaking. They let out wild whoops as they thrust their weapons forward and used Barrier Break! As light erupted from their weapons, a Dragonlight Cavalryman next to High Fighting Spirits collapsed with a wail. He had been instantly killed in the first exchange of blows! These enemy riders were simply way too powerful!
He Yi suddenly thrust out her blade, five beams of sword energy instantly erupting from it. She yelled, "Hold the line! Don"t let them near the walls! The siege weapons of the Northern Alliance are right behind them. We mustn"t let any of those weapons near our walls!"
We held on bitterly, but the twenty Dragonlight Cavalrymen were surrounded in the blink of an eye. Stranger of Three Lifetimes and her mages were hitting the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen with AoE spells, but they kept using Holy s.h.i.+eld, which caused at least 50% of these magic attacks to miss. Stranger of Three Lifetimes sighed helplessly when she saw this, there was nothing more she and her mages could do.
Bang, bang, bang...
My War Crush fractured the ground, causing a bunch of Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen to stumble. I immediately swung my sword at them, unleas.h.i.+ng Burning Blade Slash. The three fiery blades of sword energy ripped into them, causing them to fall into critical health. My clone instantly followed up with Thousand Ice Slash which finished the entire group of riders!
However, things were starting to look grim for us. Chaos Moon barely had any HP left and Xu Yang wasn"t doing much better. They swiftly flew back to the walls and cancelled their mounts as they prepared to run up the cloud ladders and escape to the safety of the city walls.
It was at this moment that a tactician suddenly appeared on the walls. It was Lu Buyi! The glow of his stratagem, Purple Dragon, could be seen radiating out from under his feet as he yelled, "I want two hundred Dragonlight Cavalrymen to mount up and join my party right now! After that, jump down the walls and reinforce our commanders! I don"t believe that my 95% buff to all your stats won"t allow you to beat the brakes of those rubbish beast riders!"
A group of Dragonlight Cavalrymen immediately got on their horses and joined Lu Buyi"s party. All of their stats instantly shot up once they received the buff provided by his Purple Dragon, and all of them jumped off the walls to join us once they had formed up. Their Defense, Magic Resist, and HP had been boosted to absurd levels and many of them activated Hoof Trample as they fell to the ground. Blood-colored explosions filled the area as our fearless riders leaped right into the teeth of the enemy forces.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
As their blades whirled in the air, all of the Dragonlight Cavalrymen who were boosted by Purple Dragon seemed to be possessed by a war G.o.d as they cleaved through the enemies. The archers and mages on the walls timed their attacks to match the attacks of the rampaging Dragonlight Cavalrymen below them, and they soon swept away all of the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen who were within thirty meters of the city walls. Even if they were riding Spirit Rank boss mounts, they still couldn"t endure the constant a.s.sault from land and air.
……
The moment I saw this glimmer of hope, I immediately yelled, "I want all of Dragonlight Cavalrymen to get down here right now! Join the parties of the commanders with Royal Road, Knight G.o.d, and Knight General. We need to defend the northern wall at all costs! However, once your equipment"s durability drops below 20%, you are to immediately return to the city to repair your equipment and replenish your potions. Comrades on the wall, please focus on providing healing and suppressive fire. As long Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is here, the Northern Alliance players can forget about entering Dawn City!"
Everyone immediately burst into action. The Dragonlight Cavalrymen leaped off the walls once they received their buffs, and some of them lost 30% of their mount"s tenacity. However, there was nothing to be worried about. As long as we had priests healing us, their tenacity would recover at a frightening rate.
The thousand Dragonlight Cavalrymen rampaged across the battlefield as they scythed through the Northern Alliance"s formation and completely devastated any Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalryman in their path. The Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry finally decided to cut their losses after nearly half of them had been killed. Even though the boulders, spells, and arrows were undoubtedly doing damage to us, our Dragonlight Cavalry was practically invincible with the support of the healers from the wall.
One advantage of being a defender in a siege was that you had the high ground. This was especially helpful to archers as they received two perks from shooting from high ground. The first was that their range was extended by 50%. The second was that their attack power was also boosted considerably. This made life extremely miserable for the long-range players of the attacking side.
……
The Northern Alliance army, which numbered more than ten million, started to retreat from the northern walls like a receding tide. They seemed to have realized that their current approach wasn"t working.
"What"s happening? Have they lost their b.a.l.l.s?" Xu Yang asked as he hefted his longsword in his hand.
Du Thirteen barked out a laugh. "As if! Their army is at least three times larger than ours! There"s no way they"d give up that easily. I think that the Northern Alliance is having an internal debate about whether to bring out one of their secret weapons."
"Tsk. What sort of secret weapon could they possibly produce?" High Fighting Spirits scoffed.
The ground suddenly shook violently as if it was mocking his words.
"What"s going on?" I looked all around me as I felt the ground shake again.
"Can anyone tell me what"s happening?" He Yi asked as her back stiffened once more.
Chaos Moon climbed up one of the cloud ladders and stopped in the middle, her hand pointed toward a distant location. "Omigos.h.!.+ What is that!? The Northern Alliance players are really shameless! They"re actually sending gorillas against us!?"
"What gorillas…"
I didn"t quite know how to respond to that. However, the moment when I saw those towering Iron Arm Apes start lumbering toward the city from the distance, I was shocked beyond words. Wasn"t that a monster? How the heck did those Northern Alliance players tame them?
……
There were ten Iron Arm Apes altogether. They were huge and brawny, their figures as imposing as mountains. Their entire bodies bristled with needle-sharp fur and their arms seemed like gigantic steel pillars that could blow a hole in a mountain with a single strike!
"Hey, look at that! There"s someone riding on top of the head of the Iron Arm Ape in the middle…" He Yi exclaimed as she pointed toward the Iron Arm Ape in question.
As expected, there was a person wearing a conical bamboo hat on his head. He held a bamboo flute to his mouth, a weird off-key song coming from it.
It was a tamer. It was a G.o.d-like tamer who managed to tame ten boss-tier monsters at once! This tamer could solo all the tamers in China!