Bang bang bang…
The sound of s.h.i.+elds ramming against s.h.i.+elds, mounts screeching and blades piercing through throats resounded across the air as 14000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen clashed against the enemy"s 100000. It was clear who was stronger from the beginning. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had an incredible amount of Famous Generals such as Li Chengfeng, He Yi, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits and more, so both our Attack and Defense stats were at least a tier above the enemy"s. However, it wasn"t like Purple Grape City didn"t have their own advantages. For one, they outnumbered us drastically. Two, they had the support of their ranged players.
Swhoos.h.!.+
Lighting the Purple Ying Sword with fire, I unleashed three flaming auras at a group of magic knights and tore their bodies to pieces. Burning Blade Slash was considered both a physical and a magic attack, so the enemy"s s.h.i.+elds were mostly useless against it.
Ignoring the countless arrows that were raining down in my direction, I spurred my mount toward the enemy and controlled the Phantom Wolf King manually at the same time. I made sure to maneuver my pet between the enemies and hit their weakest point with Claw of the Storm every time. Purgatory Storm was a pain in the Wildfire Riders" b.u.t.ts as well.
On the frontline, Red Maple was going to town with our Dragonlight Cavalry himself. After killing a Dragonlight Cavalryman in two hits, he fired Maple Kill and slaughtered seven more in one go. His Attack was just insane.
High Fighting Spirits was the closest Famous General to Red Maple, and when he saw this he immediately shot me a look and said, "Come with me, Lu Chen! Let"s kill Red Maple together!"
"Okay!"
After slicing a Wildfire Rider"s throat in half, I spurred my mount toward Red Maple and used Thunderous Charge before I entered his attack range. During the dash, I threw my sword forward to kill as many enemies as possible with Coiling Dragon Revolution. However, I made sure that the final enemy the skill would hit was Red Maple himself!
"Dammit!"
Red Maple immediately pulled his sword from a Dragonlight Cavalryman"s chest before leaping into the air, dismounting. The amazing maneuver had enabled him to dodge the Coiling Dragon Revolution at the last moment. The second he landed on his feet, he zigzagged away from two Dragonlight Cavalrymen"s attacks and fired Fire G.o.d Flurry straight at the mounted High Fighting Spirits!
Enraged, High Fighting Spirit responded by swinging his axe and parrying the first hit. However, Red Maple had altered the angle of the remaining hits just enough to slip past High Fighting Spirits" guard and strike him below the armpit and the stomach. The guy was just too skilled.
82983!
93009!
Hurt but undeterred, High Fighting Spirits pressed closer to Red Maple and unleashed his signature Xiezhi Howl. The heaven"s warrior didn"t expect the berserker to be this b.a.l.l.sy, and despite beating a swift retreat he still lost about 90k+ HP or so. Before he regained his footing though, Red Maple pointed his palm at High Fighting Spirits and shouted, "Maple Kill!"
I hurriedly yelled, "Sis!"
Murong Mingyue was the only priest we brought with us, and He Yi was the one responsible for ferrying her around. After she jumped off He Yi"s mount, she unleashed an Instant Heal on High Fighting Spirits before Maple Kill could kill him and scored a lucky crit!
+148287!
High Fighting Spirits immediately felt much better despite taking 120k+ damage from Maple Kill. Despite Red Maple"s best shot, his plan to kill High Fighting Spirits had ended in failure.
Boom!
Meanwhile, I fired Thousand Ice Slash that cleared out all the Wildfire Riders around Red Maple before dropping two Icy Cyclone Domains in front of me. All the enemies within the skill would be ma.s.sively slowed, but not my allies.
Red Maple backed out of the Icy Cyclone Domains as quickly as he was able while glaring at me hatefully. "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, you ruthless b.a.s.t.a.r.d!"
I uttered through gritted teeth, "Says the guy who ma.s.sacred so many of my brethren? If you"re a man, you"ll stay right there and wait for me to come to you! I"ll even let you pick if you want a 1v1 or a 1vX!"
Red Maple looked around himself and discovered that his players were losing morale, and ours were as high-spirited as ever. Wildfire Riders were being devastated by the second, and the Dragonlight Archers were absolutely tearing them apart with Skypiercers and Spiraling Arrow Blades. They had lost at least ten thousand men in just ten minutes.
"I… am different from you glory-besotted fools!"
Red Maple replied harshly before backing away. A moment later, he reappeared about 100 yards away from me and killed another dozen Dragonlight Cavalrymen with Maple Kill and Fire G.o.d Flurry.
I frowned. It was nearly impossible to kill a top-tier expert like Red Maple in a disorganized melee like this. It was especially impossible for me because the WEL champion emblem on my shoulder was as obvious as the sun itself, allowing him to detect me long before I even reached him. Red Maple wanted to overwhelm us with numbers, which was why he avoided a direct confrontation with me and my Famous Generals while killing as many Dragonlight Cavalrymen as he was able. That was the best way to maximize his impact and his strategy"s effectiveness.
It was rare running into anyone who was as scary as he was!
……
"This can"t go on. We need to end this as soon as possible!" He Yi said while staring at the healing Wildfire Riders. "They have us at a choke point, and a breakthrough doesn"t seem to be likely any time soon. Even if the death ratio of our Dragonlight Cavalry and their Wildfire Riders is 1:5, it"s only a matter of time they grind us down!"
I had noticed this problem as well, so after cutting down a Wildfire Rider I looked to my sides to see if I could figure out a way out of this. Both sides of the plains were hills, but they weren"t particularly tall. An idea lit up in my head as I ordered, "Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi!"
"Here!" both guys answered after killing their respective opponents.
I lowered my voice before continuing, "Take 5000 cavalrymen with you, circle around the two hills to our left and right and hit the enemy at the center! I want you to separate their archers, mages and priests from their frontliners! Once the two groups are split up, we should be able to destroy their remaining cavalry in half an hour or so!"
"Got it! We"ve been wanting to do this since a while ago!"
The duo immediately mustered their forces and snuck away to the hills. At the front, He Yi, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits and I kept up the frontal a.s.sault so that the enemy wouldn"t notice their movements. For a while, both sides continued losing bodies as if nothing had changed.
Suddenly, a battle cry broke out from the flanks of G.o.d"s Domain"s formation. A pair of elite cavalry led by Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng themselves rushed down the hills and cut through the enemy"s formation like a hot knife through b.u.t.ter, completely destroying the precarious balance G.o.d"s Domain had maintained so far. The enemy never imagined that our players would be this crazy, and their already dwindling morale instantly dropped to zero. At the same time, the mages, priests and archers were completely separated from the frontliners.
The Wildfire Riders at the front were stunned. Without the blessed light of the G.o.ds, how could they possibly fend off the overpowered Dragonlight Cavalry and Dragonlight Archers?
"Kill!"
I shouted and went all out. I raised my palm and dropped 11 Ancient Seals onto the enemy, tearing limbs from bodies and dyeing the ground red. High Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon, Du Thirteen, Xu Yang and more also charged forward at the same time and hit the enemy with everything they got. Thanks to Dragon Soul Protection"s 50% boost to Attack and Defense and the 15% boost from the King of Cities buff, our strength was overwhelmingly stronger than the enemy"s. It turned what should"ve been an equal fight into a slaughter.
The defense line of Wildfire Riders grew shakier and shakier. Beiming Xue"s Dragonlight Archers kept raining h.e.l.l upon the Wildfire Riders and killing hordes with every tw.a.n.g of the bow. In the UI, our guild"s total kill count rose by as much as 70k in just 20 minutes!
Half an hour later, G.o.d"s Domain"s frontline had finally been completely routed. Despite Red Maple and Purple Thunder"s best efforts to turn this around, they were trapped at the center by the several-thousand-strong cavalry led by Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng.
Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh...
However, G.o.d"s Domain still had one last hurrah in them. Ballistae suddenly appeared from the edges of the forest and fired into our ranks, killing many of Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng"s men. Red Maple"s personality aside, his mind for strategy was truly outstanding. I didn"t think that he would set up ballistae in two different locations.
At the same time, I wiped sweat from my forehead and thanked myself for my in-depth knowledge of Floating Ice City"s geography. If I hadn"t known to circle to G.o.d"s Domain back and ambush them, this would"ve been a most painful war.
……
Meanwhile, High Fighting Spirits roared on top of his lungs in the middle of a kill, "G.o.d"s Domain is down! Kill them all and take revenge for our fallen brothers, sisters and Floating Ice City!"
Every Dragonlight Cavalry attacked like crazy. At this point, the tides of battle had tipped completely in our favor.
Red Maple was absolutely furious, but when he looked behind himself, he discovered that China players were beginning to appear from other parts of the plains as well. It was the army led by Snowy Cathaya, The Monarch Descends, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and more. They pounced onto G.o.d"s Domain"s ranged players like tigers the second they spotted their ranged players.
"f.u.c.k!"
Red Maple punched the rock beside him with fury and struggle. "Is this where our plan ends? Can we go no further?"
Purple Thunder asked with chilly eyes, "What do we do now, Red Maple? It doesn"t look like we can turn this around anymore."
Red Maple uttered, "If I can"t get what I want, then no one will! Tell the mages we have hidden in the forest to burn Frost Forest into dust! Let"s leave the Chinese one last gift before we withdraw!"
"Got it!"
……
It didn"t take long before smoke and fire started burning everywhere. Purple Grape City mages were setting fire to the forest and turning them into an unstoppable inferno in no time.
The bad news? Countless Chinese players were still inside the forest!
s.h.i.+vering, I spent 5000 gold on a system Shout without hesitation. The system announcement quickly spread across the entire Sky City domain—
Ding~!
System Announcement (Player Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand Shout): The b.i.t.c.hes from Purple Grape City just set fire to Frost Forest! The entire Floating Ice City domain may be engulfed in the inferno! All Chinese players in the forest should teleport back to Sky City as soon as possible! Don"t lose a level for nothing!
……
Not far away, Red Maple raised his sword one last time and shouted, "Braves of Purple Grape City, our mission here is complete! All units, leave combat stances and return to our city!"
They immediately started pulling out their return scrolls.
"Don"t even think about it!"
Gui Guzi tried stopping them, but he ultimately couldn"t prevent some of the enemies from teleporting. Still, over 50% of the remaining Purple Grape City players were stuck in combat. The only way for them was death.