Snowflakes started to fall to the ground over Dawn City. Even though it was morning, there were no morning rays appearing over Dawn City today. As snow drifted all over the valley, the entire Dawn Valley was soon covered in a blanket of white. The walls of Dawn City were bristling with players and even more Chinese players were stationed within them. Reinforcements from the three main Chinese cities kept flooding through the entrances to the valley as the players of China prepared to deliver a telling counterblow.
Unfortunately, the city had already been surrounded. Roars from both players and mounts filled the air around the city as the Northern Alliance slowly advanced forward. The bulk of their army remained in tight formation, their mounted troops and archers milling about in great numbers. All of them calmly stared at the city in a confident manner. They knew that the Northern Alliance already had victory within its grasp.
Everyone could see the huge disparity in the number of troops on each side when they looked it up in the game.
China: 18977733
Northern Alliance: 67328489
The enemy outnumbered us by over 250%! Furthermore, the eight main cities of the Northern Alliance had created a huge amount of unique siege weapons for this very day. If we hadn"t gone to destroy most of those Fire Catapults, they would have probably taken down the city walls by now.
……
A snowflake slowly drifted through the air to land in the middle of a fair and tender palm. When the owner of that palm unfurled her fingers, the snowflake had already melted.
He Yi stood at the edge of the city walls, her blood-stained mantle, which was once as white as snow, fluttering gently in the wind. She raised her head to look at the sky as she muttered, "I can hear the sound of my heart thumping in my chest. The siege is about to begin!"
Stranger of Three Lifetimes hefted her staff as she stood beside He Yi and nodded. "Yeah, they"ve gotten all their troops into formation. The Northern Alliance has seven Famous Generals who have the Soul of the Foot skill, and they unsurprisingly form the core of the enemy"s attack. We can"t afford to hold anything back at this juncture. If we do, we might not even be able to last for an hour."
Hot and Sour Noodles stood behind us, his hand resting on his longsword. He said, "Yeah, the Northern Alliance is vast and powerful, and they"ve had the upper hand in this battle from the very beginning. Now they have managed to gather most of their forces outside Dawn City and their morale is through the roof. This siege is almost upon us, so I need everyone to raise their spirits as well! Lu Chen, how many people does Ancient Sword Dreaming Soul still have?"
I turned back to look at Beiming Xue. She immediately replied, "With the addition of 1000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen, we have slightly less than 60000 men. But I haven"t taken into account the players that Li Chengfeng took with him.”
Xu Yang spoke up in a grim voice, "Don"t bother counting the people that Chengfeng brought with him. They most likely won"t be coming back."
He Yi bit down on her bottom lip before she said, "Uncle Zhang Chun, you"re thinking of asking Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to defend one side of the city, correct?"
"Yes." Zhang Chun gave a heavy nod of his head as he said, "This northern wall will face the brunt of the Northern Alliance"s a.s.sault, so it is the wall that is most vulnerable during this siege. Furthermore, it seems like Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls has managed to preserve more of its strength than the other guilds, and Lu Chen himself has become a figure who"ll strike fear into the hearts of the enemy. Therefore, I think that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is the best choice to defend the northern wall."
I sucked in a deep breath before I replied. "Okay. If we have the help of another guild, we"ll be able to serve as your main force once more. So… can you give Blazing Hot Lips to us?"
"No problem!"
Stranger of Three Lifetimes smiled at me and nodded her head. Even though Blazing Hot Lips had been decimated, their 10000-strong mage brigade was precisely what we needed right now. With their oppressive firepower, we would be able to hold onto these walls for a fair bit longer.
……
Hot and Sour Noodles raised his sword in the air and said, "The Monarch Descends, Warsky Alliance, G.o.ds of Destruction, I want you to defend the eastern wall. Snowy Cathaya will defend the western wall. Candle Dragon, Hall of Immortality, Rose of the Holy Domain, and Throne Seeker will defend the southern wall. Righteousness has 100000 troops, and we will remain here to help Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls defend the northern wall. Comrades, the final battle is upon us. We only need to hold on for 17 more hours, and the final victory will be ours!"
Everyone nodded their heads at those words.
I set one of my Stormy Waves War Boots on the edge of the city walls as I stared down at the sea of people approaching us. My heart trembled as I said, "Uncle Zhang Chun, we have so few troops with us right now, so it will honestly be very hard to defend this city. Don"t you have any ace up your sleeve? We have more than one hundred million players just from the three main cities alone! Our forces shouldn"t be this paltry!"
Zhang Chun replied, "You"re right. Around thirty million Chinese players have died in the three days since the battle for Dawn City began. There are also nearly ten million high-level players who didn"t partic.i.p.ate in this battle. Most of these players are from our main cities, and they couldn"t partic.i.p.ate because of their own extenuating circ.u.mstances. Lu Chen, don"t you worry. Candlelight Shadow and I already came up with a plan. We"re using the fame of the CGL Hall of Fame to mobilize more troops! This new force will be called "Avengers" and we"ve already contacted 374 big and medium guilds. Once the time is right, they will rush over from Sky City and Wind City and attack the enemy from behind. We"ll be the anvil to their hammer and crush the Northern Alliance forces between us!"
My eyes immediately brightened. " Avengers? That sounds great! How many people do they have?"
"At least seven million players!
Tension bled out of my heart. "Okay. If that"s the case, then we"ll still be able to muster up the courage to keep battling on! Let"s prepare for our vengeance!"
"Yes!"
After that, Hot and Sour Noodles gave out his orders, and Purple Marquis, Clear Perfume, Dominating Heaven Blade, Rose Thorn, Indigo Collar and the other leaders led their guilds to their designated walls.
……
War drums boomed in the air as a warrior who was riding astride a battle tiger charged forward. A red flag was strapped to his back and he pointed his sword at the city as he yelled, "Comrades of the Northern Alliance, our past shame still burns! It still sneers mockingly at us! Even though we swore to die rather than to surrender to those strong invaders, we still failed! But today, we have stained this devilish ground with blood, fighting as one to tear apart the darkness that has been shrouding our hearts for years! Now it is time to attack and wipe away all of the past humiliation! Charge! Seize Dawn City!"
The Heroic Bannerman"s hearty shout spurred the fully-prepared Northern Alliance into action. They once more a.s.sumed the role of the attacker as countless players surged toward Dawn City. What was more concerning was the rows of catapults, siege towers, battering rams and other siege devices which began trundling toward us under the protection of a troop of magic knights.
Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!
The sound of their footsteps rang out rhythmically as the infantry squads slowly pressed in toward Dawn City. In front of them was a veritable army of magic knights who were advancing with their s.h.i.+elds raised. Archers, mages, and priests hid behind them as they slowly advanced together with the frontliners. The Northern Alliance"s formation was nearly perfect and it was clear that they were poised to strike us a fatal blow.
As the enemy formation grew closer and closer, Beiming Xue turned her beautiful eyes toward me and said, "Big bro, should we begin our attack now? If I activate Range, we should be able to hit them."
I quickly calculated the distance before giving a firm shake of my head, "No, wait a few more seconds. Right now, they"re still two hundred yards away and the damage of attacks launched by Range will be reduced. We can"t afford to waste our first volley of Spiraling Arrow Blades and Galaxy Storms like that. We need to take their cooldown timers into account as well."
"Okay."
Hot and Sour Noodles drew his sword and said, "I can mobilize the Greedy Wolf Cavalry to delay the enemy"s arrival. How does that sound?
Stranger of Three Lifetimes replied, "If you"re prepared to make a one-way trip, go ahead. The plains outside the city are crawling with Northern Alliance players, there are no guarantees that you"ll be able to return alive."
Hot and Sour Noodles smiled sheepishly. "Forget it then! I"ll just wait for them to reach the city walls."
"Yeah."
……
As the enemy grew closer and closer, I turned my head toward Beiming Xue. She immediately raised her bow high in the air and shouted, "Prepare to fire! I"m activating Range! Mages, archers, hit them with your best shot!"
Bowstrings strummed as our archers unleashed a barrage of arrows. Many mages started chanting as well and countless purple lights soon started falling rapidly from the sky. They landed in the midst of the enemy troops and went off like fireworks. The Volleys and Spiraling Arrow Blades of the archers followed soon after. A veritable storm of arrows fell on the Northern Alliance troops with a steady rhythm, some tearing apart the bodies of the soldiers that approached the walls, while others simply bounced off the s.h.i.+elds of the magic knights protecting them.
Clang, clang, clang...
Arrows feathered the s.h.i.+eld of one of these magic knights, and he had lost a little over ten thousand HP to this furious a.s.sault. He raised his sword high in the air and bellowed, "Full speed ahead! Push the battle line to the city walls! Don"t be afraid of their firepower!"
Hooves started thundering across the ground as countless Northern Alliance riders activated Charge.
Shwing!
I unsheathed the Cyan Netherworld Sword and pointed below the battlements as I shouted, "Give it everything you"ve got! Seal their path forward with your spells and arrows! Don"t let them approach the city gates!"
After I said that, I kicked my Phantom Wolf King off the city walls and sent my avatar tumbling behind him. It was fine if my pet and clone died, but I couldn"t enter the battle myself yet.
Stranger of Three Lifetimes unleashed three consecutive Ice Blasts, causing countless flowers of ice to erupt in the enemy players" midst. A bunch of Northern Alliance riders instantly collapsed under her fierce a.s.sault, but she wasn"t done yet! The sea of fire that she had created continued to burn, scorching countless enemy riders to death. No enemy player had been able to get within twenty yards of the wall that Stranger of Three Lifetimes was protecting. The attack power of a super mage was truly a marvel to behold!
However, it was soon evident that these Northern Alliance riders didn"t fear death. They continued to charge through the sea of ice and fire even though their losses were mounting, and they eventually began to break through the field of fire. Unfortunately for these doughty riders, the only thing waiting for them were Mountain Stagger Arrows and Devil Piercing Arrows of our archers!
Thud, thud, thud...
Three riders collapsed one after the other, their breastplates filled with arrows. However, even more enemy riders burst out from behind them as they recklessly charged into the teeth of our defense.
We didn"t have enough long-range players on the walls to deal with the inexorable tide of enemy players. This lack of numbers also directly translated into a lack of firepower, and a group of eight magic knights finally reached the city walls.
Beiming Xue shouted, "Ignore them and continue laying down suppressive fire. Seal that path off and let our frontline fighters deal with anyone who reaches the city walls!"
I immediately realized the wisdom of her orders, so I directed my little wolf and my clone toward that group of magic knights. The lethal duo tore through those injured magic knights with ease, instantly resolving the threat to our walls.
However, more and more Northern Alliance players arrived below the ramparts as our attempt to stem the advance of the enemy finally failed. As such, Stranger of Three Lifetimes and Beiming Xue started directing the long-range players to focus their spells and arrows on the players who were threatening to scale our walls.
Thunk...
A cloud ladder was secured to the side of the wall as it latched itself to the cracks between the stones that made up the wall. I could see Northern Alliance players preparing to climb up.
"f.u.c.king h.e.l.l! Anyone who has the b.a.l.l.s, come with me! Priests and bards, be prepared to cast healing spells and buffs at any moment. Every player who is above Level 155 and who has effective Defense exceeding 10000, follow me! We"re going down these cloud ladders!"
Even as I shouted those words, I leaped right off the city walls. f.u.c.k it, I wasn"t going to bother with a crummy cloud ladder! I wouldn"t die from the impact anyway! Furthermore, there was a cloud ladder right beside me, so if I really couldn"t take the heat, I would be able to use it to climb back up the city walls. Since I had an escape route, what was there to be afraid of?
The tattered Soul Suppressing Cloak fluttered in the howling wind as I fell straight from the sky. An Eight Trigrams formation appeared below my feet as I struck the first enemy I saw with a Universe Break!
Pchht!
31937!
I skewered a high-level magic knight, my attack one-shotting him! But I also suffered more than 50000 damage from the fall. I bulled through the impact of the fall and immediately lashed out with my Cyan Netherworld Sword. Energy erupted from my sword and exploded into the crowd of enemy players in front of me!
Blazing Blade Slas.h.!.+
My attack one-shot all of the players around me, and the fifty thousand health that I had lost was instantly restored by that attack.
……
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Light exploded all around me as He Yi, High Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon, Xu Yang, and the other high-level players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls unleashed their skills right before they crashed into the ground around me.