Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had stabilized for now, but the same couldn"t be said for the battle happening on the other side of the valley. It was because the elite players of Hero City, Vienna"s Sorrow was mounting a ferocious a.s.sault on Candle Dragon"s main formation!
Chiang!
Candlelight Shadow raised his sword and pointed it to the front. "Viper Dragoons, ride with me! It is time to send these losers back to the north!"
Candlelight Shadow once conquered many lands and terrorized countless national servers back in Spirit of Grief. Today, he rallied his people once more to challenge the rumored number one expert of Hero City, Vienna"s Sorrow!
On the other side, Vienna"s Sorrow licked his lips when the rumbling of horse hooves began. "Pooh! Your mount is a snake monster? Has Candle Dragon truly fallen this low? In that case, it no longer looks like you deserve the t.i.tle of the strongest guild of China! Everyone, charge! Slaughter these outrageous Chinese!"
The riders of Hero City had incredible vigor. They met the Viper Dragoons" challenge head-on and clashed against them!
Bang bang bang!
The horrid sound of meat ramming against meat resounded incessantly across the battlefield. For now, it looked like both sides were evenly matched. Candlelight Shadow and Vienna"s Sorrow exchanged four quick strikes with each other during their first engagement, sparks flying everywhere as they parried, guarded or countered the other person"s attacks. Both players saw the astonishment in each other"s eyes.
There was no such thing as an absolute overlord in VR e-sports because the best players in the world could be replaced by someone better the next day, and not even Candlelight Shadow could keep his throne forever. This was the first time he fought Vienna"s Sorrow, and he discovered that his opponent"s skill rivaled his own already. How could he not be astonished by this?
It didn"t look like Vienna"s Sorrow was in a hurry to decide a victor between himself and Candlelight Shadow, however. He turned his mount toward another direction and cut down all the Viper Dragoons who were unfortunate enough to stand in his way. The battle slowed to a stalemate for a time.
Unable to withstand this sight any longer, Tempest Shadow raised his spear and ordered, "Snow Lion Cavalry, Greedy Wolf Cavalry, Cyan Thunder Cavalry, charge together and eliminate these invaders!"
Candle Dragon"s inferior cavalries joined the battle at his command. Hall of Immortality, Rose of the Holy Domain and Throne Seeker had also joined Candle Dragon"s party and met the elite cavalry of Hero City head-on. At least 200000 riders were locked at the center of the valley entrance and attempting to grind each other down to paste!
The battle was incredibly b.l.o.o.d.y. Countless players were cut down, trampled, blasted, shot, or crushed to death almost every second. Candle Dragon had even brought forth their catapults to challenge the enemy"s catapults.
……
The war continued for a very long time. At this point, victory had become a question of who had the stronger and greater amount of troops.
Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was locked in a fierce battle against Hot Sand City, Burning City and Sunset City as well. It looked like we had managed to p.i.s.s off Vietnam, Korea and England altogether, and they wouldn"t stop until a victor was decided between us.
The battle lasted almost 7 hours. It was such a long battle that both our equipment durability and player stamina were sorely tested.
Somehow, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Candle Dragon and Purple Lily were able to keep the canyon from being breached. Not once was the Northern Alliance able to set foot in Dawn Valley throughout these seven hours. It was a miracle.
……
Ding~!
System Announcement (Player Hot and Sour Noodles Shout): Well done, everyone! Keep grinding down their effective strength like this! Once the enemy is killed in our server, they won"t be able to set foot in Windy Trail anymore. Also, the Nation War only lasts for 72 hours. If the enemy cannot beat us in 72 hours, they won"t be able to set foot in our territory again for 15 days straight. Keep this up for just 72 hours, and victory will be ours!
……
I smiled. "That uncle sure knows how to lift his troops" morale. 72 hours is neither too long nor too short a time for a Nation War…"
"Mn!"
He Yi nodded seriously before replying with a smile, "That being said, barring any surprise or sudden cut of supply, we should be able to strangle the Northern Alliance in Windy Trail and stop them from even setting foot on our soil."
"Heh. Alright, back to the grind!"
I raised my sword and shouted, "Anyone whose equipment is below 10% should withdraw from the battle immediately and buy a return scroll to Dawn City! Come back after you"ve repaired your equipment!"
High Fighting Spirits came over with his Dragonlight Shatter. "Oh, okay then, I"m leaving. My hammer"s just about to break."
"How are you running out of equipment durability already? My Cyan Netherworld Sword still has 40% durability, you know…"
"That"s because your Cyan Netherworld Sword is a Heaven-grade weapon!"
"Bulls.h.i.+t, the reason you"re running out of equipment durability this quickly is because you keep aiming at the opponent"s s.h.i.+elds like a brute! Always aim at the enemy"s weak points such as the neck, eyes, and the gaps between their armor and so on if you want to reduce your durability loss!"
"Urk, got it. I"m going…"
It wasn"t long before Xu Yang, Du Thirteen, Chaos Moon and more took my advice and returned to Dawn City. They came back only after they fully repaired their equipment and stocked up on supplies to the brim. Speaking of which, this battle was taking place at a valley, so it put a huge strain on one"s stamina. Our satiety consumption rate was so high that I had lost more than 150% Satiety in just 8 hours. I had to eat two stacks of bread just to keep fighting. If this continued, I would have to ask around for food already.
I discussed the details with He Yi for a bit before ordering Du Thirteen to take a thousand players back to Sky City and purchase some high-rank bread and dried meat. Provisions were critical to an army. Without food, we would all starve to death in Dawn Valley!
At the same time, I called over Li Chengfeng and said, "Can you speak with Purple Lily and tell them to send some people to protect Dawn City"s teleport NPCs? The pa.s.sage between Dawn City and Sky City needs to be secured as well. If the Northern Alliance manages to ambush our supply lines, this battle will become incredibly difficult for us."
Li Chengfeng nodded. "Got it. I"ll leave this to Purple Lily!"
"Mn."
……
Suddenly, Hot and Sour Noodles galloped into our camp with a stern expression on his face. It looked like something terrible had happened.
"What"s going on, uncle?" I knocked back a few magic knights with a slash before asking.
"I got terrible news!"
Hot and Sour Noodles uttered through gritted teeth, "Just a few minutes ago, a group of a.s.sa.s.sins managed to slip into Dawn City and take out our teleport NPCs. Both Sky City and Windy City were also under attack by several groups of light cavalry as well."
"What?"
He Yi"s mouth fell open in astonishment. "That"s impossible. How did those a.s.sa.s.sins slip past Dawn Valley?"
Hot and Sour Noodles clenched his fists and answered, "They didn"t come from Windy Trail. They spent almost three hours scaling Dragonbone Mountain Range to infiltrate our land!"
Li Chengfeng said, "That"s not good. If Dawn City"s teleportation formation doesn"t work, resupplying our frontlines will become very difficult. Not only do we have to run back to Dawn City for repairs on foot, we don"t have enough food to keep fighting. The bread and dried meat in Dawn City are only good enough for Level 100 players!"
I nodded. "That"s right. Level 100 food will only give us Level 150 players 10 points of Satiety or so. On the other hand, Level 150 food will increase our Satiety by 50 in one go. There"s no comparison."
Hot and Sour Noodles sucked in a deep breath. "Worse, the rules state that every player can only carry 10 stacks of food with them at a time. Many of us are going to have to fight on an empty stomach for sure."
It was at this moment a new rider entered our camp. To our surprise, it was Hegemon Palace"s vice leader, Little Piglet!
Little Piglet was clad in black armor and riding a slick, black horse. After he jumped down his mount, he said loudly, "Is this really the time to have a leisurely conversation?"
I shot him a glance. "What now?"
Little Piglet growled. "What now? Sky City was attacked by the enemy! An enemy cavalry of 20000 spent over 5 hours riding through Bone Desert and circling around Frosty Night Hill to arrive at our city! They"re currently slaughtering everyone at the gates!"
"What? They managed to travel all the way to our gates…?" Li Chengfeng exclaimed in surprise before frowning deeply at Little Piglet. "What the f.u.c.k is Hegemon Palace doing? We didn"t even ask you to defend Dawn Valley, and now you can"t even secure Sky City? It"s only 20000 riders! Don"t tell me you can"t even beat that number? Get your a.s.s back to Sky City and protect our gates already!"
Little Piglet turned red in the face. "f.u.c.k you, you think I don"t want to? The people who attacked Sky City teleported from t.i.tan City to India"s Elephant City!"
"So what?"
"The leader of the attackers is a man called t.i.tan G.o.d!"
"t.i.tan?" Li Chengfeng"s frown abruptly deepened. "I see. You mean that t.i.tan G.o.d?"
"That"s right!"
Little Piglet said sternly, "I heard that their mounts are all Level 145 Purple Gold Rank boss mounts. Frankly, there"s no way Hegemon Palace can stop them by ourselves."
I browsed the database quickly and found the information I sought quickly—
t.i.tan G.o.d Lv-159 Great Earth Thunder Warrior
City: t.i.tan City
Guild: t.i.tan
Position: Leader
Introduction: The number one player of t.i.tan City. Single-handedly founded the t.i.tan guild from nothing and became a critical figure in t.i.tan City in no time. A Heroic Bannerman and the face of North America"s VR gaming.
……
I had heard of this guy before. He was an incredible player who joined Spirit of Grief during the latter stage of the game. He was a player who fought Candle Dragon on equal footing when Candlelight Shadow and Candle Dragon were at their peak. He was an epic and incredibly influential legend in the North America server, and not in a million years did I imagine that he would reach Sky City so quickly.
"What do you think, Lu Chen?" Hot and Sour Noodles looked at me.
I grinned. "Well, I don"t see how this has anything to do with us. No matter how strong t.i.tan G.o.d is, he only has 20000 cavalry. He can"t possibly fight his way into the palace and kidnap Princess Karinshan as his mistress of the fort, can he? I"m not worried at all. It"ll only take Karinshan one or two hits to kill him…"
Then Little Piglet said, "t.i.tan G.o.d is attacking from the eastern gate. I heard that he"s planning to murder your Airforce One!"
I immediately pulled out my sword and declared, "Everyone bears responsibility for the prosperity of our country. I will head back with my men and eliminate them right now!"
"Wait…"
Before I could leave, Hot and Sour Noodles stopped me. "I received news just a few seconds ago from Snowy Cathaya. Apparently, Wind Fantasy is bored out of her mind doing nothing at Dawn City, so she offered to leave with Purple Marquis and challenge t.i.tan G.o.d at Sky City!"
That only added to my determination to leave. "Alright, I"m going too!"
Then, I heard He Yi saying quietly, "Do you really want to go on a date when we"re fighting a Nation War…"
That brought me back to my senses and turned my cheeks red. "Okay, I"ll stay behind and fight against Vienna"s Sorrow…"
Hot and Sour Noodles broke into a smile. "Good. Let"s continue defending the entrance to Dawn Valley then!"