Chapter 576 - Dividing up the Spoils of War

Even the powerful flying mounts could do nothing against the overwhelming firepower of the Armoured Ice Catapults. The flying mounts could easily dodge the catapults from afar. However, within a range of 20 meters, even the most powerful flying mounts would be downed after taking six or seven hits.

Soaring Angel looked down below. At Smoke Stub’s command, the remains of the destroyed Armoured Ice Catapults were dealt with. The remaining catapults were gathered together, ready to fire again.

Recalling the hail of shells, Rock Splitter and the others felt lingering fear in their hearts. So many flying mounts had been killed. What frightening firepower!

They no longer had the courage to attack the Armoured Ice Catapults.

“Boss, what are we going to do?”

Soaring Angel surveyed the battlefield. Alliance of Mages’ defeat was unavoidable. Such a large army was slowly whittled away by Asskickers United. Barely a third of their original force remained. Many players in Alliance of Mages saw the situation was hopeless and quietly slipped away.

Players left Alliance of Mages in droves. It was impossible for Crazy Magic to go after every last one of them. Many who suffered abuse at his hands also withdrew from the guild. They understood Alliance of Mages would stand or fall with the Edgarton Stronghold. Rather than staying in this guild with no future, it’d be better for them to find a more powerful guild.

Losing a war was nothing to be afraid of. Everyone could revive, and equipment could be replaced. As long as the people remained, they could rise back up from the ashes. However, when people started leaving, that was when things became dangerous. Like a sheet of loose sand, the guild could crumble apart at any moment.

Many players from Alliance of Mages had already lost the will to fight. They fled and scattered in every direction. The people left behind couldn’t put up much of a fight. Before long, they were slaughtered by the charging Asskickers United players.

Countless Asskickers United players appeared on top of the walls of the Edgarton Stronghold. They steamrolled through everything in their path, knocking any enemy off the walls. The 30 Asskickers United Warriors at the front pressed forward step by step. They encountered fierce resistance. Since these last loyal players had nowhere left to run, they were determined to take the enemy down with them. Asskickers United suffered heavy losses.

Divine Radiant Blessing!

A brilliant radiance fell from the sky and eveloped the more than 300 Asskickers United players in the vicinity, empowering them greatly. Their health and mana rose alongside their other stats.

“Holy shit! My stats increased by 70%!”

“What a powerful blessing!”

The Asskickers United players were all extremely excited.

At this moment, the sky darkened as a cold gust of wind blew past.

Fiendish Curse!

A projection of a giant fiend appeared in an open space 10 meters away. It let out a sinister laugh which rang out like an ear piercing shriek. The forces of Alliance of Mages stared at the fiend in alarm.

After 10 seconds, the fiend disappeared. The players from Alliance of Mages felt as if all strength were sucked away from their body.

Someone checked their character status. Their stats had fallen by 70%!

“Priests, quickly cast Dispel!”

“We can’t! This curse is too high rank! We can only wait for its duration to end!”

One side had their stats raised by 70% while the other side had their stats reduced by 70%. The difference in strength instantly became evident. Asskickers United’s Warriors were killing their enemy counterparts with just one attack. This was the first time they had encountered such a situation. A plate armoured Warrior was as frail as a twig.

“Damn, this is sweet!”

With the Warriors of Asskickers United invograted with strength a one-sided slaughter commenced.

Awed by these two skills, Asskickers United’s Mages and Priests looked at the casters. The blessing and curse of these two players were simply amazing.

They were precisely Black Heaven and Black Hell. Their skill combination was simply unmatched.

Seeing the Alliance of Mages players nearly wiped out, Black Hell lowered his staff. He turned to Black Heaven and said, “Let’s go down and take a look.”

The two descended the stairs, Asskickers United players making way for them as they passed.

Inside the Edgarton Stronghold, the Alliance of Mages players were expelled or killed. Crazy Magic and Divine Flame were nowhere to be found.

Before long, a piece of news spread out through the guild chat. The Edgarton Stronghold had fallen! All of Asskickers United erupted in cheer. With this victory, there was one less guild that could oppose them in the Viridian Empire. All that remained was Divine Protectors.

Those players who had fought for Alliance of Mages until the bitter end quietly left in sorrow.

Soaring Angel and the other flying mount riders circled in the air for a while longer before departing.

Bladelight and the others stood atop the walls and gazed ahead. From just below the Edgarton Stronghold to beyond the horizon was a field of corpses. Asskickers United’s players collected the equipment off the ground. They could probably be sold off in the auction houses for millions of gold.

「We’ve captured the Edgarton Stronghold. How are we going to deal with it?」Bladelight asked Nie Yan.

Asskickers United had two options. One was to completely raze the Edgarton Stronghold to the ground, then withdraw like they’d done with the other strongholds. The other was to station a portion of their army here and turn this place into their base.

Nie Yan pondered for a moment. Moving a portion of their troops would mean spreading themselves thinner. However, razing the Edgarton Stronghold to the ground was too much of a waste. After all, it was still an Intermediate Stronghold. If World Bloc developed this place, they would surely rake in a large amount of profit. It would be a huge boon.

「Rebuild the Edgarton Stronghold. Reinforce it and make the walls higher, then place a few Armoured Ice Catapults and trebuchets on top of them. That way, people will have to think twice before attacking us!」Nie Yan said. In the end, he decided not to abandon the Edgarton Stronghold. With Asskickers United’s technological superiority, defending the stronghold would be no issue.

「I’m afraid our defenses still aren’t enough. We should garrison a few people here. The other guilds in Moonlight City won’t be pleased with us expanding here. They’ll definitely gather a resistance,」Bladelight urged. He and Nie Yan were thinking along the same line.

「Divide up the five strongholds surrounding the Edgarton Stronghold between Radiant Sacred Flame, the War God Tribe, Holy Empire, Sapphire Shrine, and Battle Crazed Alliance. Have them establish branches here and start recruiting people. As for the Edgarton Stronghold, we’ll station players from the main guild and five branches there. A large force isn’t required. 35,000 should do. We’ll install transfer points in all the strongholds. If the Edgarton Stronghold gets attacked, the players from the other five strongholds can quickly teleport there to provide assistance.」Nie Yan had thought everything through. Asskickers United could only defend six strongholds for now. After establishing a firm foothold here, they could then continue to expand.

「Good plan,」Bladelight said. He had nothing to add. Nie Yan had already thought of everything.

After a while, Guo Huai arrived in the Edgarton Stronghold. Following the designs given to him by the Engineers, the reconstruction process immediately began. The walls were repaired and refortified. The shops inside and everything else was built anew. Asskickers United wasn’t lacking in money anyway. Previously, the budget for the war was 5,000,000 gold. After the war ended, 7,000,000 gold was paid out in compensation and rewards. They had also obtained over 5,000,000 gold in equipment. So, all in all, the war only cost them 2,000,000 gold. There was more than enough gold left to rebuild and develop the Edgarton Stronghold.

One building after another was erected. The entire Edgarton Stronghold underwent a huge transformation. Stationed on top of the towering walls were the trebuchets and catapults. Without more advanced siege weapons, not even an army of several million could breach these defenses.

Following Nie Yan’s instructions, Guo Huai left the management of the Edgarton Stronghold’s real world business district to Ah Chen. Shortly after the reconstruction of the stronghold was complete, many entrepreneurs came flocking back. Many of their shops had been destroyed during the war. Seeing that Asskickers United was now occupying this place, they came over to discuss cooperation. Needless to say, this was an ideal location for commerce. Although their shops had been destroyed, they had already earned quite a bit of money.

With the Edgarton Stronghold under their control, Asskickers United could set the prices. Before long, the money they had spent on reconstruction would be earned back.

With ample benefits being paid out to everyone, the entire guild was in high spirits. Many members who were originally leaning towards accepting the Century Financial Group’s offer had no choice but to reconsider. After Alliance of Mages’ defeat, would they have any future following the Century Financial Group? Even though the money offered by the Century Financial Group was quite enticing—more than several times what they were getting paid now along with some additional bonuses—Asskickers United had shown great promise. After capturing the Edgarton Stronghold, Nie Yan had raised everyone’s salaries. In the future, they would definitely get more raises.

The hearts of the players in Asskickers United had more or less settled down. Cao Xu had poached more than 600 people. So many people withdrawing at once was definitely a huge blow to the guild. However, after the battle for the Edgarton Stronghold, all this momentum fizzled out. If he wanted to poach more people, he would have to at least quintuple his offer. At that point, he’d just be hurting himself. There was no way he’d be even remotely getting his money’s worth.

Like this, Cao Xu’s plot was foiled.

With everything on the up and up for Asskickers United, Nie Yan could relax and focus on training his skills.