The hooves of the Dragonlight Cavalry kicked up cold, wet soil and left behind many hoofprints along an ancient path.
We were very close to Twelve Musicans’ location, but Chaos Moon’s 10000-man party was even closer. They were only one forest, or three minutes, away from them.
……
I opened the world map and saw that there was a mountain range about a hundred meter tall ahead of us. The valley on the other side of the mountain range was where the battle was happening. There, a Sovereign Rank boss, China’s Twelve Musicians and India’s Natural Flow were beating the crap out of one another.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh…
The forest in front of us shook unnaturally before a troop of Dragonlight Cavalry burst out into the open. Clad in a full set of exquisite equipment, Chaos Moon rode up to me and said, “Finally. We’ve been waiting for you for a while…”
I smiled. “Mn. What’s the situation?”
Chaos Moon pointed to the right. “They’re having a great time beating the hell out of each other behind that mountain over there. Surprisingly, the Twelve Musicians guild has become strong enough to trade blows with Natural Flow after Chance Meeting joined them. Even so, I think they’re going to be routed on all fronts in half an hour at most. At least 30000 White Horse Cavalrymen were attacking their formation, and Flowing Cloud has mobilized another 50000 mages, priests, tamers and more to support them. They’ll be arriving in ten minutes at most. Also, Natural Flow’s current troop count has already exceeded 100k!”
Tiger Leopard Knight sucked in a deep breath, “Damn, this gal ain’t playing around!”
I smirked. “It will be fine. They have greater numbers, but our numbers aren’t few either. Our numbers will grow to 50000 in ten minutes tops. We can charge Natural Flow as soon as we gather that many men!”
“Yeah!”
We galloped all the way up the mountain range to get a better view of the battlefield. From between the dense trees, we looked down and saw that it was chaos within the valley. Dead players were everywhere, but the large majority of them belonged to the Twelve Musicians. The death ratio between Twelve Musicians and Natural Flow was at least 3:1 in favor of Natural Flow, if not higher. Flowing Cloud herself—she was currently wearing a silver battle robe—was fighting at the frontlines and commanding Ivory Towers to be planted a short distance behind their frontliners. The ridiculous tactic mowed down Twelve Musicians’ frontliners like flies and made life an absolute hell for Zhou Ping.
I sucked in a deep breath before repeating, “We’ll wait ten minutes for Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng to arrive first. While the two of them destroy the Ivory Towers, the rest of us will ride down the mountain and destroy Natural Flow’s effective strength!”
Beiming Xue blinked. “Do you think we’re being busybodies, big bro?”
I smiled. “Of course not. Barring some exceptions, it is perfectly acceptable to help out a Chinese guild who is being attacked in the Chaotic Regions. Assuming that our roles were reversed, and we are the ones attacking Flames of War right now, Flowing Cloud wouldn’t hesitate to come to their rescue.”
“Yeah.”
……
We didn’t have to wait long before Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi’s troops reached us. The two dragon riders descended from the sky before greeting us smilingly, “The Dragonlight Cavalry is all here. The mages, priests and archers will be arriving shortly. Should we begin now, or?”
I unsheathed the Chill of the Nine Provinces and declared, “We begin. Alright, listen up, people! Our first order of business is to cut down all of Natural Flow’s Ivory Towers! I’ll be leading the main charge this time. Chengfeng, Little Gui, you guys will fly ahead and take out the closest dozen of Ivory Towers first. Chaos Moon, you and your men will circle around to the right and attack Natural Flow’s sides. You have three minutes. We’ll commence the battle once three minutes are up!”
Chaos Moon nodded. “All units, follow me!”
About 7000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen followed behind her. Chaos Moon was a violent girl with a taste for violence, so of course she chose to steal away our most violent units. No one dared to voice any complaints though. After all, the amount of male players in the guild who could defeat her in a fair fight could be counted on two hands.
When three minutes were up, I pointed my sword toward the valley and shouted, “Together with Dreaming Souls, our Ancient Sword paves the way! Brothers and sisters, charge!”
As everyone unsheathed their weapons, two giant dragons swooped past our heads and charged straight at the Ivory Towers directly in front of us. Our hooves shattered the silence of the forest, and our armor and blades shone like the first dawn just peeking out from between the mountains. The moment our uniforms and magnificent-looking mounts thundered down the mountain, some Natural Flow’s players immediately said, “Oh no, that’s… the most powerful cavalry troop of the Center, the Dragonlight Cavalry of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!”
Flowing Cloud reined her mount and glared at us for a moment. She had a new mount called the Penta Color Divine Bull, and it was said to be extremely high-level. Apparently, it was a hard fought prize Flowing Cloud had sacrificed nearly a thousand men to get, and she was so happy about it that she was radiating happiness for days. Today, her mount had reached full maturity and power, and the first worthy opponent to test out its mettle was right here.
Flowing Cloud gritted her teeth. “Hmph, Lu Chen! All units, form battle formations to receive them as we protect the Ivory Towers. Mages, use God Devil Break and Touch of the Dragonkiss to kill the Dragonlight Cavalrymen one by one. Archers, time your Shock Arrows to hit the first row of Dragonlight Cavalry and disrupt their charge.”
Natural Flow’s player quality was obviously superior to Twelve Musicians guild’s in every way. In no time at all, their cavalry turned around to face us and smashed their shields against the ground, forming orderly battle lines. Then, they unsheathed their weapons and waited for us to arrive.
“Roar!”
In the sky, the Dark Crystal Dragon and Blue Crystal Dragon opened their jaws at nearly the same time and fired a pair of hot white breath attacks at the White Horse Cavalry, extinguishing nearly half of their health in an instant. It was a mount skill both dragons had. Furious, Flowing Cloud retaliated with a sword aura with an attack range of 100 yards, aiming at the Dark Crystal Dragon. Holy shit!
“Wah!”
Both Gui Guzi and his dragon lost their balance and crashed in between a cluster of Ivory Towers. However, Gui Guzi had grown so powerful that the siege weapon could only hit him for a couple hundred damage per hit. He laughed. Spurring his dragon to take the sky once more, he swung at the dozen of Ivory Towers and dropped their HP tremendously. Another swing was all it took for him to destroy them all. Not one to be outdone, Li Chengfeng fired seven sword auras in a row that wrecked both the Ivory Towers and the White Horse Cavalry on the ground.
“Go!”
I activated Fusion Armor and charged shoulder to shoulder with my Dragonlight Cavalry. I knew this wouldn’t be a costless battle.
The moment before impact was easily the most nervous moment of this battle. If the Dragonlight Cavalry managed to overcome the enemy’s bombardment, then victory was ours. If not, then this would end with our terrible defeat.
The air froze for a second. Suddenly, the third row of enemy magic knights removed their shields to reveal a group of well-equipped elite archers with a giant dragon image floating above their heads. My heart skipped a beat. That was… the symbol of the Dragon Punisher Archers! I recognized them because Snowy Cathaya’s Dragon Punisher Archers bore the same symbol! I had no idea that Natural Flow had occupied the Bronze City of their server!
“Shock Arrows, loose!”
Flowing Cloud’s melodious voice cut through the air. Not only did she give the order while we were still 100 yards away from them, she didn’t tell them to use Far Shot. It was because she didn’t need to, the Dragon Punisher Archers had a range of 100 yards! Shit!
Twang twang twang…
Every bow twang felt like a blow against my heart. At least 30000 Dragon Punisher Archers had loosed their arrows against us, and almost no one on the first row was lucky enough to avoid it. Tiger Leopard Knight and countless others were stunned by the Shock Arrows and trampled over by their own units, and the only reason I wasn’t among them was because I had Battle Astral Wind turned on. It was a bone-chilling moment to say the least.
“Motherfucker!”
Enraged, I rushed forward and summoned my SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, the Xuanyuan Slash!
BOOM!
After the skill took out an entire group of Dragon Punisher Archers, I waved my arm in front of me and fired at least a dozen Ancient Seals along the row of Dragon Punisher Archers. The skill was empowered by 2320 Tactics, so it dealt at least 700k damage to an archer. Countless died, but some survived thanks to their eighth-promotion skill, Impossible Escape. It gave them a 10% chance to revive after receiving a death blow. It wasn’t a high chance, but it wasn’t insignificant either.
……
Still, there was only so much a single person could do on a battlefield. The Dragon Punisher Archers’ attacks were terribly concentrated and powerful. In three minutes, they were able to halt the Dragonlight Cavalry’s charge and kill them when they had just entered the range of 200 yards. In five minutes, they were able to kill at least 2000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen. This was the first time ever our invincible cavalry had lost so many men in such a short time.
“Motherfucker! Break through!”
However, not all hope was lost. Tiger Leopard Knight became the first Dragonlight Cavalryman to break through the kill zone, soon followed by a second and a third rider. When their numbers swelled, and they managed to get close enough to drop their Ultimate Strength Breaks on the enemies, a trace of panic flashed across Flowing Cloud’s features. It looked like she was aware that she would lose if her kill zone was breached as well.
Thud thud!
A couple of Shock Arrows struck my Guardian Dragon Armor and finally stunned me for 1.7 seconds.
“Take out Lu Chen now!”
Flowing Cloud attacked me without hesitation and deleted around 700k HP in just a couple of swings. Behind her, a mage wearing a black mage robe suddenly showed up with a fiery scepter as well. Finally, the owner of the Scepter of Divine Flame had joined the battle!
Bang bang bang!
Galaxy Storm + God Devil Break + Touch of the Dragonkiss!
Three impossibly powerful spells engulfed my whole body and bathed my senses in pain—
391277!
372740!
512881!
……
My HP had dropped to almost nothing in but the blink of an eye. How terrifying!
Thankfully, the priests we had brought with us had been healing me the whole time I was taking damage, and they just barely managed to keep me above 30% HP. The second I broke out of the stun, I immediately healed myself for 25% HP with Tenacity of the Dead and downed a Rank 13 Dragonheart Orchid Agent. Finally, I raised my sword and shouted, “Xuanyuan Art!”
Bloody columns of light enveloped nearly all the enemies in front of me. My attack mode was set to “Nation War” right now, so the skill removed 50% HP from all non-Chinese players at once.
“Shit!”
Flowing Cloud ordered with a grim expression, “All units, retreat and defend near the Ivory Towers!”
