GOR
Chen Xiaolian abruptly leapt to his feet and he rushed toward the tent’s entrance. Opening the tent flap, he saw that the storm was still raging outside and he was incapable of seeing anything.
“What are you doing?!”
Due to Chen Xiaolian’s action of opening the tent flap, the wind and raindrops have made their way into the tent. It was late in autumn. With the heavy rain outside, the wind contained a considerable degree of chillness, causing the flames in the brazier to dim somewhat. The squad captain glared at Chen Xiaolian as he stood up. “Are you looking for death?”
“Captain…” Chen Xiaolian understood that his position in the army was likely simply that of a minor soldier under the squad captain’s command. He hastily turned around with an ingratiating smile and said, “It’s the outside… … I feel like there is something amiss. Please come take a look?”
“What is amiss?” The squad captain revealed a displeased expression as he strode over. “Kid, don’t try to pull any tricks here! It is raining heavily outside! What can you see?!”
When the squad captain reached the tent entrance, however, his face instantly flickered. He stopped lecturing Chen Xiaolian. Instead, he hastily crouched down, placing his ear against the ground.
Seeing the squad captain’s actions, Chen Xiaolian’s heart skipped a beat.
At that moment, the rain was falling incessantly, like beans smashing down on the earth. They were able to notice something due to the dots of light. However, even with his enhanced body, Chen Xiaolian could not hear what was going on far away.
And yet, this squad captain could?
After listening carefully for a moment, the squad captain got up. He slowly swept his gaze through every person within the tent. “Everyone, get up! Something might be happening!”
Hearing the squad captain’s words, the Cao army soldiers nodded their heads. Without saying a word, they all stood up, moving away from the brazier and toward their respective beds. They went a spot beside their beds and retrieved their weapons from the weapons rack there.
There were several weapons there, ranging from spears to blades. After picking up their weapons, the soldiers quickly moved to stand behind the squad captain.
Seeing the squad captain glaring at him, Chen Xiaolian swiftly nodded his head. Turning around, he signalled his group. All of them then moved to pick up a weapon.
The weapons were standard cold weapons, not particularly sharp. At that moment, however, in order to maintain their identity as soldiers in the Cao army, they could only wield the weapons. Should a battle erupt later on, they could still change to their own equipment.
After mere moments, Chen Xiaolian could finally hear a sound coming from the distance, a sound which only grew louder.
It was the sound of horse hooves, mixed with the sound of firearms. Occasionally, the explosive sounds of heavy artillery could he heard.
It was late at night with pouring rain and numerous tents were blocking his line of sight. Even so, Chen Xiaolian could faintly make out the occasional flashes of light coming from the distance.
“Prepare for battle!”
The squad captain, wielding a broad blade, shouted. The Cao army soldiers behind him shouted in affirmative as they too, gripped their blades tightly.
The members of Meteor Rock Guild remained fairly calm. Nightmare, on the other hand, appeared slightly nervous.
“Don’t be afraid. If a battle does erupt, just stay behind us.” Chen Xiaolian turned around to look at Nightmare and said calmly. “Is there anything going on within your guild channel right now?”
“There is…” Nightmare wiped the sweat off his face. “Three members reported that they are under enemy attack. However, they quickly fell silent. I suspect…”
“Dead already.” Chen Xiaolian nodded his head softly. “The battle started and ended quickly. Thus, there was no time for them to report at all. Other than those three, the other liaisons simply had no time to issue a warning before getting killed off.”
“Who… … who could it be?” Nightmare forced out a smile. However, it was an ugly sight, one worse than crying. “Surely, it is not Players… … what if… … Thorned Flower Guild…”
“Not possible.” Chen Xiaolian quickly shook his head. “Even if there are Players in this instance dungeon, the system will not let them stand on the opposing side of the Awakened faction. Thus, even if they do not want to fight alongside us, in order to complete the quest, they must not fight against us. Besides… … this surprise attack leaves no room for negotiation.”
“Then… who could it be?!” Nightmare clenched the handle of the blade in his hand so tightly, his hand had practically turned white. “Boss, earlier, didn’t you say that we are still in the process of marching forward? Isn’t our objective supposed to be far away?”
“Historically speaking, that should be the case.” Chen Xiaolian sighed. “However, it is hard to say if the system will arrange the storyline for this instance dungeon according to history. Besides…”
Chen Xiaolian then shook his head as he stopped talking altogether.
A low-pitched horn blow suddenly rang out, accompanied by the reverberations of heavy drums.
“Enemy attack!”
A harsh-sounding male voice rang out from afar. After hearing the shout, the squad captain shouted out as well. He strode out from the tent as he shouted, “Charge!”
Chen Xiaolian’s group followed the other soldiers as they followed the squad captain’s lead, charging out from the tent.
The pouring rain showed no signs of abating. However, they were at least capable of making out what was going on nearby, albeit barely. Like them, soldiers had begun to emerge from the nearby tents.
Regardless of who the other party may be, their raiding actions have finally caught the attention of Cao Cao’s army.
Nightmare inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.
As the entire camp had found out about the surprise attack and had entered a battle-ready state, the situation would be much safer.
The thought had only just crossed his mind when rapid horse hoof sounds arrived before him.
A tent was suddenly sent flying as five horse riders, arranged in a small, sharp-type battle formation, charged toward Nightmare.
“Argh!”
Nightmare shouted out in misery. His body had only just jerked backward when the squad captain bellowed out. Using both his hands to wield his broad blade, he charged forward.
He was not the only one. Several more soldiers from the same tent followed, charging toward the five horse riders.
The moment they unleashed their attacks, their bodies shone with light.
Faint white-coloured light enveloped their whole bodies, illuminating the dark and rainy night.
“Com… … combat energy?!”
Roddy’s eyes bulged widely as he forgot all about retrieving his firearm from his storage space. His hand continued to hold onto the spear he picked up from the weapons rack.
He had not expected the NPCs in his faction to be so historically inaccurate. Even some of the ordinary soldiers were capable of utilizing combat energy.
Before the five horse riders could reach them, Cao Cao’s soldiers – by swinging their swords – sent out crescent-shaped sword beams out toward the five horse riders.
I’m safe!
Nightmare breathed another sigh of relief as the thought popped into his mind. Since even Cao Cao’s soldiers can utilize combat energy, what was there to worry about?
If Chen Xiaolian were to find out what he was thinking, Chen Xiaolian would have responded with a sneer.
Since Cao Cao’s soldiers could utilize combat energy, for the raiders to successfully attack all the way to their location… just how powerful were these raiders?
The sword beams that the soldiers fired out were so powerful they caused even the falling raindrops to fly upward. As they moved forward, the sword beams cut deep, long gullies through the surface of the ground. However, when the sword beams arrived before the horse riders, all the horse riders did was shift their spears a little so that the tip of their spears would meet the sword beams head-on.
They did not swing their spears. With simply the momentum of their charging horses behind them, their spears made contact with the sword beams. The sword beams became like tofu thrown toward a blade. They were cut into two by the tip of the spears before quickly dissipating away.
The tip of their sword-shaped battle formation had reached Cao Cao’s soldiers.
“Dodge!”
Chen Xiaolian furiously grabbed Nightmare, who stood in a daze, not knowing what to do. He then pulled him along as he ran backward. The other members of Meteor Rock Guild, having received Chen Xiaolian’s notification through the guild channel, had already ran tens of metres away.
At the same time, the five horse riders slammed into Cao Cao’s soldiers.
Their spears remained in the same position, horizontally forward and unchanged as they met Cao Cao’s soldiers head-on. In face of their attacks, the faint, white-coloured combat energy enveloping Cao Cao’s soldiers became like decorative objects and were easily pierced by the black spears.
After piercing into their chests, the spears were uniformly flicked to the back and the bodies of the five Cao army soldiers hurtled through the air before landing heavily on the ground, causing water to splash about everywhere.
The frontmost horse rider descended upon another tent. His spear thrust into the tent before flicking upward. The tent, fixed into place using solid wooden stakes, flew up into the sky to reveal more Cao army soldiers, who were only just beginning to assemble.
“It’s Liu Bei’s army! Liu Bei’s army is attacking!”
Someone within the camp suddenly shouted loudly.
