I gripped my sword tighter and chuckled. “No wonder that selfish, profit-minded Candlelight Shadow came all the way from Wind City to partic.i.p.ate in the territory war. He"s just trying to protect his guild"s spot!”
Hot and Sour Noodles nodded. “Right, getting a good placement in the Guild Ranking is incredibly important to a guild"s development. Once the new ranking comes out, it won"t change for at least a month, so the top ten guild gains a huge advantage in terms of recruitment, war, reputation, and more over other guilds.”
His explanation made perfect sense to me. “By the way, you"re part of the staff, right? You must know Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls" current points and ranking, don"t you? Can you give us a sneak peek or something?”
Hot and Sour Noodles burst out in laughter. “Haha, do you even need to ask? Obviously, both Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Snowy Cathaya will be entering the top ten as rising rookies. I don"t know your exact ranking though. In the end, whether you can contest the Top 3 spot contested by Warsky Alliance, Purple Lily, and Candle Dragon is up to you.”
“Got it!” I nodded before smiling. “Hehe, we"ll definitely win this territory war and improve our rankings!”
Hot and Sour Noodles got on his mount again and added all of us as friends. He gave us one last smile before bidding us goodbye. “Okay, I"m leaving. Righteousness will be partic.i.p.ating in this siege as well, so see you on the battlefield later!”
I nodded. “Be seeing you!”
After Hot and Sour Noodles left, Ling Xueshang asked me, “Lu Chen, you looked like you had a good time chatting with that uncle. Will you attack him if you really meet each other on the battlefield later?”
I smiled. “Sure! I"ll kill him myself.”
Come See The Snow Tonight: “...”
……
It wasn"t long before the number of players in the combat zone displayed at the territory war interface exceeded 7 million. Guilds of all kinds from all three main cities had come to Immortality City.
Practically every super guild beside Snowy Cathaya and Purple Lily were here. Hot and Sour Noodles wasn"t wrong when he called this a meeting of heroes earlier.
Almost three hundred thousand players were gathered to the south of Immortality City. A large majority of the players were over Level 130 and very well equipped. It was clear that they were a well-oiled army. They were separated into three distinct forces, and they were three of the Top 10 guilds of Vanished G.o.d City: Hunting Moon Dynasty, Immortal Sword Inn, and Zero Pitch Sonata!
Underneath the city, the guild leader of Hunting Moon Dynasty, Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties, stepped out into the open and pointed a s.h.i.+ning spear at Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch. He shouted, "Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch, you and Hall of Immortality are sc.u.m who bullies the weak just because you are many. Today, for all those who have suffered in your hands, I swear to bring you to justice!"
Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch couldn"t help but laugh loudly. Putting a foot on an arrow loop and leaning against the wall, he replied, "Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties, aren"t you a CGL Hall of Famer? How are you so blind to the truths of the world? Hmph, do you really think you can bring me to justice? The world is ruled by the law of natural selection, and I"m just exercising my right as a superior! Those weaklings deserve to be trampled and eliminated, and there"s nothing you can do to change that even if you throw your life away! Don"t you agree?"
Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties"s expression turned colder. "The people of the world rally to the merciful, not a cruel tyrant like you! Just you wait, Hunting Moon Dynasty will flatten your Immortality City today!"
This time, a smiling Rose Thorn appeared on the walls and said, "Wei-Jin, you talk so much c.r.a.p about bringing evildoers to justice, but you can"t deny you"re using it to justify your invasion of Immortality City, can you? I"ve met countless people just like you…"
Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties retorted furiously, "Rose, you were an acquaintance, and I have no wish to fight against you. But why are you helping the tyrant to oppress the weak? What on earth did they offer you to make you stake your life for them?"
Rose couldn"t help but giggle loudly. "Stake my life? That"s a bit exaggerated, don"t you think? For starters, there"s no such thing as right or wrong in a game. We"re all here to realize our self-worth. As for what Hall of Immortality offered to buy my service, I can tell you right now that Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch paid me 12 million RMB upfront. I see no reason to turn him down when both the guild and I can use the money for various things. I think Throne Seeker was paid 8 million RMB to lend a hand as well. Not bad, right? Boss Bloodthirsty is quite generous, don"t you agree?"
"Pooh!" Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties spat on the ground. "I misjudged you. I thought you were an intelligent woman, but all you care about is money!"
Rose Thorn chuckled. "Come on, don"t be mad! Also, I"m both smart and greedy. These aren"t mutually exclusive traits, you know."
"Hmph, you truly have no shame…" Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties relaxed a little before turning to Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch. "As for you, you really are a prodigal young master. Why would you spend 20 million RMB to secure this city?"
Leaning lazily against the arrow loop, Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch answered, "Why, you ask? If I can defend this city, Hall of Immortality will become famous throughout China, and our guild"s ranking will improve drastically. I"ve spent over 50 million RMB for this war, and I"m telling you right now it"s all going to be worth it. Just watch, Hall of Immortality will surpa.s.s Hunting Moon Dynasty!"
……
Furious, Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties pointed his spear at the wall again and shouted, "Then there is nothing else to say today! Hunting Moon Dynasty, Zero Pitch Sonata, Immortal Sword Inn, prepare to attack!"
Finally, the first true battle of this territory war had begun!
The elite players of the three guilds started marching toward the walls, but they were much smarter than Mad Dragon or Flower Room. Experienced engineers measured the distance first before setting up their catapults about 140 yards away from the walls. It was far away for the defenders not to be able to attack, but close enough to the hurled rocks to hit the not-very-st.u.r.dy city and destroy it.
Creak creak...
A bunch of mechanical noises later, a dozen or so giant rocks were tossed toward the walls!
Boom boom!
Two giant rocks slammed into the walls and violently shook the entire wall on this side. The rest flew into the city and terrorized a bunch of players. Unfortunately, it wasn"t quite enough damage to take down the wall, and catapults had two glaring weaknesses: one, it was incredibly difficult to aim properly. Two, its ammo was extremely limited. Every engineer could only carry 1 to 3 rocks on their person, and high-level engineers were a rare commodity.
Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties stopped in front of a catapult and raised his spear. He declared, "Follow my command! Magic knights, raise your s.h.i.+elds and stand at the front! Use Holy s.h.i.+eld to nullify the archers" Far Shots and protect the catapults! When the catapults are out of ammo, protect the ladders until they are propped up against the walls! Those P2W arrow towers have extremely high Attack, so make sure you Guard against their attacks properly! Priests, stay close to the magic knights! Players, move in groups of 1 magic knight, 1 warrior, 1 mage, 1 archer and 1 priest. Push in waves so that we can bring our firepower closer to the walls! After that, magic knights will cancel their mounts, climb up the cloud ladders on foot and protect the squis.h.i.+es with your s.h.i.+elds! Let"s take over the walls in one go!"
All the players under his command nodded affirmatively and fell into position.
Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties was definitely a talented field commander, although that wasn"t surprising considering that he was a CGL Hall of Famer. There must be a reason Hunting Moon Dynasty was able to remain a strong guild across both Spirit of Grief and Heavenblessed.
The united army launched hundreds of rocks at the city before finally running out of ammo. They were able to leave deep, shocking marks on the walls and kill thousands of players who were unfortunate enough to get crushed by the boulders from crumbling walls. Since the catapults had incredibly high attack power, anyone who took a direct hit was dead or almost dead without exception. The losses hardly mattered though. Hall of Immortality, Rose of the Holy Domain, and Throne Seeker"s players alone totaled up to several hundred thousand, but Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch also bought a ton of random guilds to defend his city. I wouldn"t be surprised if the players entrenched inside Immortality City totaled up to a million or more. Superior numbers were the source of Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch"s confidence. The attackers still outnumbered the defenders 7 to 1, but it wasn"t too big a gap to overcome considering that they were protected by fortifications. To be honest, it was impossible to conquer Immortality City without investing a considerable amount of effort.
……
Meanwhile, Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties raised his spear again and shouted, "Begin the a.s.sault!"
A cacophony of battles cries filled the air as the three guilds finally launched a united a.s.sault on Immortality City. A sea of people started swarming methodically toward the city.
"Archers, fire at will!" Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch yelled.
Arrows rained down from the sky and rattled against the magic knights" s.h.i.+eld. The magic knights kept their Holy s.h.i.+elds up and protected their mage, archer, and priest from harm. Practically every magic knight on the frontline was buffed by Death Match, Physique and other defensive buffs, so being on the frontline of the a.s.sault wasn"t impossible to endure.
Thud thud thud...
A dozen or so magic knights who were unlucky enough to be focus-fired dropped from their mounts and died. There were a lot of high-level archers on the walls, and the hail of Spiraling Arrow Blades they kept shooting was nothing to scoff at.
"Don"t panic! Hold the line and keep moving forward!" Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties shouted to raise his troop"s morale. He was standing at the forefront with his spear on one side and his s.h.i.+eld raised in front of him.
Finally, the line of troops reached within 100 yards of the walls, and the arrow towers started raining havoc on them. The thick, long steel arrows penetrated the magic knights" armor and s.h.i.+eld with ease, but the quality of Hunting Moon Dynasty"s magic knights was way higher than Mad Dragon or Flower Room"s. Moreover, their party had a priest healing them and keeping them alive, so they were surviving despite losing health at a rapid rate.
Unable to stand this any longer, Rose Thorn pointed at the ground and ordered, "All archers within 20 yards of me are to attack the center area with Spiraling Arrow Blades! Flip these G.o.dd.a.m.ned turtles over!"
Bang bang bang!
The focus fire worked, and droves of magic knights fell to the ground and died. The loss of his most elite fighters pained Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties since there was no reviving them for this battle, but their sacrifice was worth it if they could reach the walls!
It was a bloodbath. People kept dying, and their blood turned into rivers. An entire layer of bodies, potions, and equipment covered the ground.
Five painful minutes later, the frontline players finally reached within 10 yards of the walls. The arrow towers couldn"t hit them there.
Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties shouted, "Raise the cloud ladders and scale the walls!"
……
Chiang!
Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch unsheathed his blade furiously and ordered, "f.u.c.k patience! Ghost Riders, ride with me and decimate our enemies!"