Again, the world was really small when enemies were involved. Xu Yang had lost to Hundred Battler at the underground establishment and broke his arm because of it. Barely a day or two later, the two of them met each other in the game again. It was almost amusing to imagine Xu Yang playing the game with a plastered arm, and Hundred Battler struggling even harder with a plastered arm and a leg.
……
"Oh, it"s you?" Hundred Battler suddenly broke into a grin. "You"re just a loser. If you know better, you would come over now and present your neck to me again!"
Anger reaching its boiling point, Xu Yang tried to run toward Hundred Battler until he was held back by He Yi. "Wait. Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi"s party will show up in two minutes tops. With three hundred people, it is Warsky Alliance"s doom if they dare to engage us, not to mention that it won"t impact our search for the B8 floor boss in any way."
There was no fear on He Yi"s beautiful face. After so many battles, our beautiful guild leader had long since grown into a leader who could face any situation with a cool head. Although Warsky Alliance was t.i.tled one of the strongest guilds of Sky City, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls didn"t fear them in the slightest. When two people meet, only one will emerge victorious, and in a restricted map like this there was even less reason for us to back down!
Just as He Yi said, Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi showed up with their hundred-man parties shortly after. Of course, it was only a "hundred-man party" in name because everyone had lost a lot of party members. Forget a hundred, anyone with over 70 players left in their party must be having a lucky day. This was compounded by the fact that the mobs of this floor, the Wind Eagles, had ranged magic attacks. It was impossible to guarantee that every fight would go perfectly without losses.
A couple more minutes pa.s.sed, and even Beiming Xue and High Fighting Spirits" parties had joined up with ours. With almost four hundred players, there was literally nothing Warsky Alliance could do against us, not to mention that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had long since cemented themselves as the guild with the greatest military strength in all of Sky City. Should a battle break out, Warsky Alliance had to be insanely lucky to withdraw from this battle intact considering that our numbers were almost even.
……
"Did I hear that someone is threatening our brothers and sisters?" High Fighting Spirits stepped out of the battle line, gave his axe a mighty swing and shouted in a deafening voice that reached everyone"s ears, "Come on then! I just happen to be itching for a fight!"
Gui Guzi also raised his Rainbow Spear and smiled dangerously. "Trying to complicate boss Broken Halberd"s life? You must feel so brave when you outnumber your enemy a hundred to one, don"t you? Warsky, didn"t they call you the most benevolent and righteous guild leader of all of Sky City? If so, then why are you resorting to such a shameless tactic?"
Li Chengfeng also pointed his sword at Warsky Alliance. "I heard that you were chased all over the place by Candle Dragon, but that is no reason to bully our vice leader, is it? We could"ve ignored each other in peace, but you just can"t help but bring your own doom, can you? How interesting!"
……
Warsky felt a muscle twitch in his face as the top Level of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls directed their killing intent at him. He looked at October Rain and asked, "What do we do, Little Rain? We may not have the upper hand if we fight this out. Should we withdraw, or should we fight to the end and preserve our face?!"
October Rain"s lips curled upward. "Of course we"re withdrawing, you fool. Ancient Sword Dreaming Soul is strong, and we don"t have Lin Bing Dou Zhe and Laughing At The Heavens. It"ll cost them 25% of their troops at most to wipe out all of us. Battles spun from emotions are never wise, and this is not the time to go all out against Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls."
"Understood."
Warsky was a man who could take anything that comes his way, so he stepped out of his ranks and clasped his hands together amiably. "Well met, friends from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. First, I would like to apologize for the earlier misunderstanding. As a member of Sky City, the strongest super city of China, I don"t think I"m wrong in a.s.suming that our greatest enemies are not ourselves, but the guilds from Wind City and Vanished G.o.d City such as Candle Dragon, Purple Lily, Blazing Hot Lips, Hunting Moon Dynasty and so on, correct? In that case, I don"t think this is the right time to fight a civil war among ourselves. How about we clash swords after we"ve dealt with all the guilds from other cities?"
He Yi looked at me with a tiny smile. She was clearly telling me to speak on behalf of the guild.
Despite being the representative of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, I must say that I loathed diplomatic talks like this. Still, I stepped out to meet Warsky in the middle before replying, "You"re right. Right now, the enemy I wish to defeat the most is Candle Dragon, not Warsky Alliance. Plus, we haven"t even entered the B9 floor yet, so duking it out now would only benefit Candle Dragon. Therefore, I have no qualms about you leaving with your men. But before that, I demand that your friend, Hundred Battler apologize to my brother, Hot Sun for what he did. Some time ago he beat Hot Sun in an underground match, but he then broke his arm for no reason whatsoever. I will not allow that man to leave without a proper apology!"
Warsky looked at Hundred Battler and asked, "Is that true, Hundred Battler?"
The scar on Hundred Battler"s face twitched once. "Don"t try to change my mind, guild leader. I won"t apologize to that b.a.s.t.a.r.d because he doesn"t deserve my apology!"
I was absolutely furious when I heard his insolent words. I tossed my sword to the ground in front of me; the blade sinking into the hard granite and vibrating with menace. I pointed a finger at Warsky and yelled, "War is the only choice if he doesn"t apologize for his crime! Don"t say I didn"t give you face if it gets to that, Warsky!"
Warsky uttered through gritted teeth. "Hundred Battler, is it really that hard to say one word?"
"I will not apologize!"
Hundred Battler declared resolutely. "Guild leader, please kick me out of the guild. I"m sorry for disappointing you, but I will never apologize!"
"You!"
Warsky clenched his fists and shook in anger. A few seconds later, he walked toward a nearby rock and stood on top of it, facing toward us. Suddenly, he dropped to one knee, bowed his head and said quietly, "If Hundred Battler won"t apologize for his mistake, then I, Warsky, will do it for him. I"m aware of this incident, and I"m aware that the fault lies with my brother, Hundred Battler. It is Warsky Alliance"s motto to keep online grudges online, and my brother undoubtedly broke it when he hurt Hot Sun at the underground establishment. Therefore, please allow me to say this on behalf of my brother to Hot Sun and everyone in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls: I"m sorry."
No one expected Warsky to do something like this. The shock was even greater on Warsky Alliance"s side.
"Boss, you…" Farewell Song clenched his fists tightly.
October Rain bit her lips but kept quiet.
Hundred Battler shook like a leaf as tears welled inside his eyes. Anger and regret threatened to burst out of his chest, but it was already too late.
……
Crack!
I abruptly pulled out the Heaven-stealing Sword out of the ground and strode toward Warsky in a straight line.
"Boss!" Farewell Song jumped to his feet and ran toward me.
Hundred Battler also broke into a run as if afraid that I would harm his guild leader.
However, Warsky shouted and stopped them in their tracks, "Stop! Lu Chen is not that kind of person…"
Pa...
I grabbed Warsky"s arm and pulled him forcefully to his feet. Smiling a little, I said, "Warsky, you really are a respectable opponent. I am honored to be your enemy. From now on, I hope that both of us are able to hold onto our moral principles and fight fairly against each other!"
"Same here!"
Warsky was smiling brightly as well.
As I let go of the guild leader"s arm, I couldn"t help but let out an impressed sigh in my head. Had Candlelight Shadow possessed this level of honor, with his Level of Reputation and strength, there would"ve been no chance for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to ever catch up to him. What Warsky did today to win his people"s heart was no less effective than Liu Bei"s act of throwing his infant son on the ground. From now on, the player of Warsky Alliance would serve their guild leader with greater loyalty than ever before. They would bleed, and they would die for the guild leader who could cast aside his pride for them.
……
After returning to my ranks, I said in a quiet voice, "Okay, that"s one matter settled. Warsky Alliance will move to the west, and we will move to the east. We won"t be interfering with each other!"
"Mn!" Xu Yang nodded strongly before saying, "Thank you, Lu Chen!"
I smiled back. "You"re welcome. My impulse got to me, and I gave Warsky the perfect chance to show off his acting skills. Sigh, what a blunder…"
Li Chengfeng laughed loudly before asking, "Say Lu Chen, if it was we who made a mistake, would you apologize on our behalf like Warsky did?"
I looked at him. "Does killing the one asking for an apology count?"
"Hahaha…"
Everyone laughed. It was around this time Gui Guzi looked at Chaos Moon and noticed something. "Oh? Did you finally… gather a full set? I see a ring around your feet…"
Chaos Moon smiled. "Yes, I"ve collected all five pieces. This ring of mine boosts all my party members" attack power and attack speed by 20%. Not bad, right?"
"It"s really strong…"
While chatting, we marched toward the east and killed all the Wind Eagles we encountered on the way. I took control over High Fighting Spirits" hundred-man party and activated Martial G.o.d. High Fighting Spirits and Chaos Moon were also part of it. Now that I thought about it, it might be a bit of a waste to have two Famous Generals in my party...
Besides that, I gave He Yi and Gui Guzi each a dragon scale. Only players with a dragon scale could grind a teleportation scroll, and only parties with a dragon scale could use it to teleport to the final floor. What this meant was that we could teleport 300 players to the B9 floor at most.
Safety was paramount when fighting the Wind Eagles, so we sent a couple of fighters to aggro the mobs before killing them from range. It wasn"t too slow all things considered.
A while later, a system announcement suddenly ringed in our ears—
System Announcement: Player "Clear Perfume (Sky City)" has successfully defeated the Earth Rank Boss, Dura the Thunder Dragon, and reached Level 128. They have also met the criteria to become a Famous General and become the twenty-sixth Famous General of China! They have gained Luck +1, Tactics +1, and the exclusive Famous General Skill, "Ice Blade"!
Ice Blade: Increases ranged physical attack power by 30% and adds 5% splash effect to all attacks. This skill"s effectiveness is affected by the user"s Tactics. Skill exclusive to player "Clear Perfume”.
……
"Oh? Qingqing learned a Famous General Skill…" I couldn"t help but smile. "With this, Snowy Cathaya has five Famous Generals too. Sky City really is a den of tigers and dragons!"
High Fighting Spirits grinned. "They"re still no match for us. We have 8 Famous Generals in total…"
He Yi replied, "As the game progresses, more Famous Generals will pop up in the game. Every guild battle is basically a battle between Famous Generals."
"Mn." I nodded in agreement.
It was at this moment we heard Gui Guzi shouting, "Hahaha, what luck! Guys, look, there"s a giant dragon in the sky…"
Dragon?
My heart skipped a beat. Our karma can"t be that good, can it? Did we actually run into the boss of the B8 floor?