Wildfire Plains.
The groves of fiery red maple trees on the plains looked like spots of wildfire. Wild, untamed horses could be seen running away from the humans who had disturbed them. Gales of wind occasionally blew across the canyon like a wolf"s shrill howl, and the blue sky and the meadow field painted an incredibly lively picture after the rain.
War flags could be seen flapping idly on the horizon. The number one guild of Elephant City, Dark Clouds, had stationed their forces here long before we arrived. The black-colored Cheetah Cavalry was running back and forth across the plains and clearing out the mobs, while a great number of defense structures and siege weapons such as catapults and ballistae was being set up. The Indian army sure went through a lot of trouble to face the Chinese.
……
A cool gleam flashed across Hot and Sour Noodles" eyes as he gazed to the distance. "It looks like the enemy isn"t to be underestimated this time. From what I heard, Dark Clouds" guild leader, Dark Clouds Sorrow, is one of the main reasons the guild was able to become the strongest in Elephant City. He"s only slightly weaker than Breeze and Rain, and for the past one month or so he has been investing his time and energy into creating his ace cavalry, the Cheetah Cavalry. Cheetah is a Level 165 Earth Rank Boss mount, and it"s only 15 levels behind the Dragonscale Beasts and about 35% weaker in terms of stats. And what they lack in strength, they make up with their ma.s.sive count of 200k. This is going to be a hard fight."
I followed his gaze and said, "Well, thank goodness we don"t just have the Dragonlight Cavalry then. We also have the Dragonlight Archers, the Kui Dragon Cavalry, and many, many more cavalry troops from our allied guilds!"
Indigo Collar walked up to me with a broadblade in his hand before asking, "How do you think we should fight this out, Lu Chen?"
I gritted my teeth and said, "The Wildfire Plains are a flat land with great visibility, so a sneak attack is pretty much impossible. We"ll have to rely on formations to gain an advantage over the enemy. Unfortunately, I don"t have my ancestors" ability or knowledge to execute a tactical formation that"ll win it all. The only thing I know how to do is to execute a cavalry charge, so I dare not say that I have the ability to command this battle. What about you, uncle?"
Hot and Sour Noodles nodded with a challenging look on his face. "Yes, there will be no risky sneak attacks to catch the enemy off-guard with such a broad field of vision, not to mention that we are too numerous to pull off a maneuver like that. And even if we could, our enemies are some of the strongest guilds in Elephant City. I don"t think that it"s realistic to expect a victory in that form. This will be a head-to-head battle."
Xu Yang abruptly unsheathed his blade and declared, "So be it! When two people meet, only one will emerge as the victor!"
I nodded and said, "This is going to be a hard fight, so get ready people. The cavalry will push forward slowly in a square formation first. The s.h.i.+eld formation will go next, followed by the mages, priests, archers, and bards. The siege weapons should be prepared so that they can be used at any moment as well. Eve, please check out the surrounding territory and set up as many Bloodfiend War Drums as we can. That"s one advantage we have that the enemy doesn"t."
He Yi smiled. "Yessir~~"
……
Players were everywhere on the plains. The battle line on both sides stretched at least a dozen or so kilometers long. Elephant City must"ve a.s.sembled at least ten million players on this map, although we had tens of millions of players ourselves. Only one of us would be walking away from this place the victor.
I checked the Nation War UI and noted that there were exactly 24 hours left before the end of the War of Purple Grape City. If we failed to occupy the city during this time, it would enter a half-month period of forced peace, and we would have to wait until it was over before we could declare war again. After all the siege weapons and player levels we had invested into this war, to end things with just two abandoned two tier 2 cities was an outcome we absolutely couldn"t accept!
At the distance, I saw the guild leader of Dark Clouds, Dark Clouds Sorrow sitting atop a fiery red horse and wielding a lightning sword. The Temple Guard emblem on his head had the number "4" on it, meaning that he was at least the fourth strongest player in India and inferior only to G.o.d of War and Breeze and Rain.
"Prepare for battle!"
Dark Clouds Sorrow said loudly to his men, "We are in a crisis, people! It is not enough that the Chinese occupy the King of Cities at the Center, they wish to invade Purple Grape City as well! Elephant City and Purple Grape City are neighbors, and some of you have heard of the saying "without the lips, the teeth feel the cold". If Purple Grape City falls, we will be in danger of falling too. Therefore, it is our responsibility to protect Purple Grape City like we protect our own homes! Let us stop the tyrant from expanding any further and chase away the invaders from this sacred land together!"
The Cheetah Cavalry raised their weapons and cried loudly in response, "Kill all Center players!"
……
Both sides had completed their battle preparations. All that was left to do was to fight it out. Something happened during this time, however. Our support players tried to move closer to the frontline to build the Bloodfiend War Drums, but Dark Clouds Sorrow had ordered his ballistae to perform a max range attack and killed them all. As a result, we were unable to expand the range of the Bloodfiend War Drums deeper into the plains.
"Those motherf.u.c.kers! Attack!"
I declared loudly, "There will be no cheap tricks or surprise maneuvers this time. Attack them from the front, hack their s.h.i.+elds into bits, and punish these b.a.s.t.a.r.ds who attempt to twist the truth with their lies!"
The Armored Ice Qilin Horse let out a long neigh before charging toward the enemy. The Dragonlight Cavalry followed closely behind me, hooves thundering and suns.h.i.+ne reflecting off their unsheathed blades. Whether Dark Clouds had planned for this or not, their action had undoubtedly triggered the powder keg that was already primed to explode on this battlefield. Right after the Dragonlight Cavalry had charged toward the enemy, our allied guilds did the same thing as well. The cavalry line that stretched over at least a dozen kilometers long looked mighty impressive be it from above or on the ground.
I changed my POV a bit and checked out the battlefield from a bird"s eye view. Our cavalry was swiftly approaching the enemy"s defense line like a tidal wave, but Elephant City"s players responded fearlessly by sending their 200k-strong Cheetah Cavalry and millions more elite cavalrymen toward us. In fact, I even saw the war G.o.ddess of Elephant City charging toward us with the handful of White Horse Cavalrymen she still possessed.
……
After we charged about 300 yards toward the enemy, I shouted, "All ranged cla.s.ses, push forward without fear! Elephant City"s Ivory Tower is too powerful, the only way to deal with it is through overwhelming firepower! All ballistae, shoot at a 45-degree angle and give them a taste of the Zhuge Repeating Ballistae!"
Whoos.h.!.+
After I finished giving the orders, I abruptly raised the Purple Ying Sword and dropped Thousand Ice Slash onto the enemies directly in front of me. Once they were frozen, I followed up with Burning Blade Slash that killed at least 20 Cheetah Cavalrymen in one go. The Cheetah Cavalry possessed incredible Attack and Defense, but they were no different from a normal cavalry before my attack power. Not only that, I summoned my apparition to charge with me, and the Phantom Wolf King to throw Purgatory Storms into the enemy. I even stacked 7 Ancient Seals on top of the Purgatory Storms and wiped out absolutely every enemy in the vicinity!
The other Cheetah Cavalrymen stared at me in shock. They couldn"t believe the level of power I was displaying. One of the party leaders said in a trembling voice and a white face, "f.u.c.k! Is that the new MVP of the WEL? No wonder he"s so strong…"
Obviously, not everyone was cowed by my combo. He shouted, "Trap him with Trapping Net and kill him together! There"s only so much one person can endure!"
He was correct. Too bad I was surrounded by He Yi, Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng and many more powerful comrades I could trust with my life!
Bang bang bang...
Both cavalries slammed earnestly into each other. Wielding the Dark Blade like a lance, Li Chengfeng was able to knock five Cheetah Cavalrymen out of his way before empowering himself with Battle Soul Possession and attacking with Reverse Scale Slash and Dragonbone Flurry. The combo killed countless in just the blink of an eye.
He Yi also activated G.o.dslaying Blade and swung her Seven Star Veluriyam Spear in front of herself repeatedly. Forget her basic attack, even her Purgatory of Ice and Magma had become a super long-range AoE skill. In a sense it was even more powerful than my Burning Blade Slash, one-shotting entire swathes of enemies due to the splash effect!
……
It wasn"t a one-sided ma.s.sacre, however. For starters, Dark Clouds Sorrow just knocked Hot and Sour Noodles away with a single strike and killed an entire group of Righteousness cavalry on his own. I counted at least another 5 Temple Guards dealing ma.s.sive damage to our army as well.
I shouted, "All cavalry with the Martial G.o.d, Knight G.o.d, Knight General, Royal Road and Blitz buffs, spread out and split the enemy into smaller groups! We need to knock the daylights out of them with one ma.s.sive hit, or they"re going to bleed us dry!"
"Mn!"
Everyone I addressed immediately scattered in different directions and charged toward the enemy.
On a related note, the ranged parties on both sides weren"t idle as we fought. Countless catapult payloads and ballistae bolts were flying above our heads and dealing ma.s.sive damage to everyone who was unfortunate enough to be at the wrong place at the wrong time!
……
Two whole hours later, Li Chengfeng sent me a message: "Wanna go for a headhunting operation?"
"Okay!"
I nodded strongly. h.e.l.l, I had been wanting to do this for a while. Dark Clouds Sorrow had brought 7 Temple Guards with him, and my plan was to take them all out!
"Lin Yixin, He Yi, come with me!" I shouted.
A lot of people were confused by my shout. Funnily enough, many didn"t even know who I was addressing. A short while later, the two beautiful ladies fought their way to my side and asked, "What is it?"
"I have a headhunting operation for you two!"
I looked in a certain direction and said, "There are three Temple Guards over there. I want the two of you, Little Gui, and Fighting Spirits to cooperate with me and take them all out!"
"Got it!"
We wasted no time in making our move. Before I even got close to the Temple Guards, I fired a G.o.d Binding Art that hit one of them squarely!
"Ah?!"
An axe-wielding Temple Guard exclaimed in surprise when he suddenly found himself unable to move. Before he could even react, my Burning Blade Slash and Lin Yixin"s Ice Flame Slash cut through his body and killed him on the spot!
On the other side, High Fighting Spirits swung his axe against a swordsman"s sword and caused a shower of metallic sparks. However, the swordsman was no small fry. While retreating, he scored a hit that deleted at least 40% HP from High Fighting Spirits" health bar before activating Charge. He"s trying to kill High Fighting Spirits!
Bang!
Thankfully, He Yi came to High Fighting Spirits" aid in time and knocked the swordsman out of the way. I immediately rushed toward the swordsman and brought my sword down for the killing blow. The swordsman tried to parry my attack, but he recognized the way I was twisting my wrist and turned purple immediately. "Parry shatter?!"
"Correct!" I smiled.
Blood spilled across the ground, and another Temple Guard fell to my blade just like that. Tsk tsk, these so-called Indian elites were nothing before our combined strength!
……
The war didn"t stop just because the system announced the deaths of several Temple Guards in a row. Cyan Tiger Cavalry, Purple Dragon Cavalry, Kui Dragon Cavalry and even Dragonlight Cavalry were dying with every pa.s.sing second. The battle on the plains had turned out to be far bloodier than anyone could have possibly imagined.