Large groups of undead cavalry galloped out of the undead castle and into the snowy plains. In the sky, dazzling Bone Dragons covered in purple lines screeched violently before flying toward Purple Grape City. Corpse Eaters, Cave Devils, Liches, Necromancers and more let out horrific shrieks before marching toward the distance like the spread of a plague. The undead obeying their one and only master"s order and marching in an organized formation was a sight to behold.
"Oh, my brave warrior…"
Sophie"s att.i.tude had turned 180 degrees from what it was before as she walked up to me and gave me a bow. She even grabbed my hand and said smilingly, "If Purple Grape City truly falls into my grasp, the greatest credit will undoubtedly be yours, and I will always remember this favor. I think I"m finally starting to understand why my naive Xinran loves you so much…"
Beside me, Xinran also grabbed my arm and shot her sister a look. "What do you know? Hmph hmph! I will never tell you about my story with big brother!"
Sophie giggled. "Whatever you say, dear. Seriously though, I wasn"t kidding when I said that he impressed me. He may be dumb, stupid, and so weak that he"s only as good as an enhanced Corpse Eater, but none of those are fatal flaws…"
Suddenly, the undead queen abruptly moved her beautiful face closer and asked me, "Say, do you want to be my big brother too, boy?"
I shuddered from head to toe before shaking my head like a fan. "Oh no, I cannot possibly be worthy of the honor…"
"Hmph hmph, at least you"re not completely foolis.h.!.+"
I had to resist the urge to roll my eyes. Sophie was much more calculative than Xinran was, and the reason her att.i.tude toward me improved wasn"t because she thought better of me, but because I brought her the promise of a super-tier main city, also the one thing she needed more than anything else right now. With Purple Grape City, she could develop an undead force that could make even the Silver Moon Alliance think twice before attacking. She would gain the power to say her piece and stand shoulder to shoulder with Princess Karinshan as equals.
And even then, I was sure that the politics that was really in play would be far deeper than what an outsider like me could truly fathom.
……
Suddenly, Sophie pointed to the distance and asked me, "The war is about to begin, and I"m sure the former citizens of Purple Grape City won"t stand by and do nothing as I take their city. In fact, their resistance will be incredibly fierce. Xinran, and boy, would the two of you like to watch the show with me?"
Xinran sniffed once before replying, "Whatever. As long as big brother is with me…"
I nodded and said, "Sure, why not?"
"Very well!"
Sophie waved her hand and summoned a group of undead bone horses that was wreathed in flames. After she mounted one of them, she said, "Come on, I"ll show you both the strength of my undead legion. It"ll make me worry less too…"
I obeyed and summoned the Armored Ice Qilin Horse. Then, I pulled Xinran up and put her in front of me. She was so obedient that I could almost forget that she was a G.o.ddess-like ent.i.ty, and not the girl next door, so to speak.
It was at this moment a dark cloud flew across the sky at supernatural speed. Upon closer inspection, I discovered that it was really the Winged Silver Dragon. After turning its ugly head toward me and shooting me a glance, it laughed. "Kaka, my beautiful and wise master is together with her beloved big brother. Let"s just watch over them from above and stay out of their way, shall we?"
Next to the Winged Silver Dragon, the headless knight that was b.l.o.o.d.y Finger spoke through his soul flame, ""Us"? What "us"? You"re just one of the sc.u.m dragons who were exiled by the Dragon Speaker Binglan. You should be grateful that I"m even talking to you."
The Winged Silver Dragon flew into a rage and roared. "b.l.o.o.d.y Finger, you shameless n.o.ble! If my beautiful master hadn"t deigned to accept you, you would be a random corpse lying in the earth already! How dare you call me a sc.u.m! Also, I"ve served under master for much longer than you did, so by right, I"m your senior! You"re the one who should be calling me brother dragon!"
b.l.o.o.d.y Finger sneered. "Oh brother dragon, your shamelessness truly knows no bounds!"
The Winged Silver Dragon abruptly opened its mouth and bit off b.l.o.o.d.y Finger"s head, or more accurately his helmet. After chewing at the metal for a bit, it said, "You dare act so impudently before the dragon king, you headless trash? You are courting death!"
Blood Finger simply pulled out a new helmet from out of nowhere and placed it on top of his shoulders once more. As long as his soul flame burned bright, the Winged Silver Dragon"s attacks hurt no worse than a tickle.
Chiang!
Next, the former Purgatory Sovereign abruptly unsheathed his broadsword and slashed the Winged Silver Dragon right across its head, drawing blood immediately. However, the Winged Silver Dragon was a high-level dragon, so its wound recovered at a speed that was visible to the naked eye. It immediately retaliated by biting b.l.o.o.d.y Finger"s arm. The scuffle quickly devolved into a full on battle between an undead knight and a dragon in the sky.
……
Meanwhile, back on the ground, we were trekking across the snow when suddenly, Xinran grabbed my hand and looked back at me with a smile. "Can you give me a minute, big brother?"
"Sure," I responded with a nod.
Xinran immediately took to the air and growled frigidly at the fighting duo, "Keep it down if you don"t want to die, or my big brother will be feasting on dragon meat steel bone soup tonight!"
I felt my teeth chattering a little. "Er, Xinran, I think that"s a little too hardcore for me…"
The girl descended back onto my horse and grabbed my hand gently. "Relax, big brother. I"m just teaching those two useless things a lesson. I won"t actually make you eat them…"
"Alright…"
"Let us continue our conversation, shall we?" Xinran blinked once before leaning into my chest. "Does a steel lump that can run as fast as a horse really exist in your world?"
I nodded. "Yeah, we call them cars…"
"Cars…"
Xinran blinked. "Such a weird name. But why do I feel like I"ve heard it before…? Did the n.o.bles of Sky City use to develop these things?"
I sweatdropped. "Er, that I don"t know…"
"Big brother…"
"Yeah?"
"I really want to visit your world one day. Is it far away?" Xinran looked at me hopefully.
I sighed. "Yes, it is. It"s so far away that you may never get there in a lifetime…"
"Ah? That far…"
Xinran blinked again before smiling. "That"s fine. For you, I will never grow tired no matter how long I have to fly. Will you still be my big brother in that world, big brother?"
"Yeah. I will always be your big brother."
"That"s nice…"
……
We exited Lost Forest while we were still in the middle of a conversation. Just ahead of us, I could see undead knights galloping across the canyons and making their way toward Purple Grape City. At the same time, the system announced that the second greatest boss of the game, Sophie, was leading a large army against the abandoned city, and any player who could slay an undead could obtain contribution points for their efforts. From the looks of it though, the j.a.panese players did not possess the power to stop the undead"s march at all.
A large group of Purple Grape City raced out of the edge of Final Duel Valley. An axe wielder shouted, "Motherf.u.c.ker, the undead from Frostbone Snow Region are trying to occupy our Purple Grape City! How did this happen? How did they know that Purple Grape City is abandoned right now?"
"Who cares? Just kill them all! They give experience and contribution points!"
"Kill!"
Tens of thousands of players charged the undead from the flanks. Although the dread-rank Corpse Eaters worked together with the undead knights to fight the players, the latter were no slouches. They fought in well-organized parties, and their party composition was very scientific: magic knights to hold the line, archers and mages to damage the enemy, and priests to keep the magic knights healed.
I caught up to Sophie and suggested, "Sophie, I don"t think you should allow them to continue ravaging your troops like this. How about you summon a thousand Undead Bone Dragons over and a.s.sist the ground troops with dragon"s breath? I promise you that a three-dimensional a.s.sault like this will destroy their defense line instantly."
Sophie"s mouth fell open for a moment. She clearly wasn"t expecting a player to make a suggestion to an NPC. However, our relations.h.i.+p had changed from cold strangers to something more, and it was a fact that her amity toward me was much higher than before, so she nodded. "Very well, we"ll approach this battle as you suggest…"
A few minutes later, a horde of Undead Bone Dragons swooped down like fighter jets and spat their draconic breaths at the players, killing the magic knights immediately. As I thought, the draconic minibosses were able to put a stop to the seemingly endless swarm of j.a.panese players outside Final Duel Valley immediately.
I hid a snicker. The f.u.c.kers had a great time hunting me in Final Duel Valley, but now it was their turn to be hunted by Sophie"s great army!
Chiang!
I unsheathed the Purple Ying Sword and rode toward the enemy. Before I could leave though, Sophie called out to me and asked, "Hey, where are you going?"
I replied smilingly, "I"m a wanted person by the Purple Grape Empire, and now they"re turning their swords against you. Obviously, it is only right if I make trouble for them and relieve some of the pressure your army is facing, right? No worries, I"m just going to circle back to Final Duel Valley and hit their backline."
Sophie pressed her lips together. "Fine. Don"t die, okay?"
"Come on, there"s got to be a better goodbye phrase than that!"
As I rode toward Final Duel Valley, Xinran said in my lap, "Big brother, I… I promised Queen Sophia I wouldn"t take part in human wars."
I nodded understandingly. "Of course. How about you watch over me from the sky and save me right before I"m about to die?"
Xinran smiled. "Mn mn. That I can do."
……
The red soil of Final Duel Valley looked like lumps of b.l.o.o.d.y flesh after they were nourished by the morning mist. The hoofprints left behind the Armored Ice Qilin Horse almost looked like fresh scars on the body of a giant. I looked up and saw Xinran hanging high up in the sky with the Dragonbone Spear in hand. I wouldn"t have been able to see her if I hadn"t activated Dark Pupils.
I could hear the enemy racing through the forest directly in front of me. Countless moving red dots appeared on the minimap, and I heard someone shouting—
"The undead faction is attacking Purple Grape City! Head back and defend now! They cannot be allowed to succeed, or we"ll never get back our city!"