Chapter 1175: Iron Courage

Translator: alyschu

Bang!

Vienna’s Sorrow crashed heavily onto the battlefield that was covered in rampaging cavalry. Unwilling to surrender, he supported himself with one hand and waved his weapon with the other in a feeble attempt to protect himself from any attacks while getting up. Still wearing the Fusion Armor, I jumped high up into the air and launched a mighty kick into his chest.

"Hmm!"

I regretted my action immediately. Vienna’s Sorrow let out a muffled groan and rolled like a ball, but his momentum carried him behind his allies, and soon I couldn’t even spot him anywhere. As pleasing as the kick had felt, killing him here would’ve been so much better for everyone.

I might have foiled my own assassination attempt, but my role as the blade of the Dragonlight Cavalry wasn’t over yet. I parried a strike from the left and the right before dishing out Burning Blade Slash. Hovering in midair, I abruptly spread my arms and cast Myriad Swords Obliteration, raining a million light swords upon my enemies.

……

Behind me, He Yi shouted while swinging her Godslaying Blade-empowered Seven Star Veluriyam Sword, "Stick together as one to cut through the enemy’s defense line! Form a line formation when destroying their siege weapons! The less siege weapons they have, the longer we’ll be able to hold the entrance!"

Countless Dragonlight and Zephyr Cavalrymen followed closely behind He Yi, Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng and more while slaying every enemy in their path. Over time, their names appeared on the Top 100 of the Nation War leaderboard one after another. There was also the international Nation War contribution points leaderboard where the players of both sides of the war were lumped together in one giant leaderboard. I was far, far ahead of everyone in first place, Luo River God of the Capital was still the second, Vienna’s Sorrow was the third, Breeze and Rain was the fourth, and Lian Xin, the fifth. At the end of the Nation War, the first place player would be crowned the MVP and rewarded accordingly even if their side was the loser.

The Dragonlight Cavalry roared like crazy and swung their arms tirelessly. They were able to tear apart Hero Alliance’s shield formation instantly and flabbergast the enemy to no end. For this charge Chaos Moon’s Rock Crush and High Fighting Spirit’s Xiezhi Howl were the MVPs. He Yi’s Godslaying Blade did a lot of work as well.

After Vienna’s Sorrow resummoned his black dragon and took to the sky, he ordered, "All archers, use the Far Shot mode to whittle at their riders with everything you got! No matter how strong their defenses are, they cannot withstand everything we throw at them! Mages, use Galaxy Storm from max range as well! Catapults, change targets and focus down the Dragonlight Cavalry!"

A vice leader from another guild shouted at him, "Are you crazy, Vienna!? Catapults damage everyone indiscriminately! Your order will kill our players too!"

However, Vienna’s Sorrow clenched his fists and growled back, "Doesn’t matter! The Dragonlight Cavalry must be stopped even at the cost of our own allies! Now do as I say!"

"F-fine!"

……

A few moments and a series of twangs later, a ton of flaming rocks were launched into the air straight toward us. Joining them was a ton of Spiraling Arrow Blades, Galaxy Storms and more skills as well.

"Raise shield!" Gui Guzi roared.

The Dragonlight Cavalry immediately raised their shields in front of themselves to block the attack, but their bodies were ultimately made of flesh and blood, not steel. The first volley alone killed over 500 Dragonlight Cavalrymen as our men were either crushed to death, burned to death or both. It was a casualty rate we absolutely couldn’t accept.

I hurriedly turned around and called out, "Beiming!"

Beiming Xue rode toward me at high speed until she suddenly skidded to a halt and ordered the 10000+ Dragonlight Archers behind her, "Far Shot 25 degrees northeast! Skypiercer + Spiraling Arrow Blade combo!"

The arrows were loosed, and the sky was temporarily blotted by them. Their attack range was buffed by their mounts, so they were able to launch their attacks farther away than the enemy archers. A ton of white light erupted almost immediately where the rain of arrows had crashed. Naturally, the Northern Alliance’s archers and mages were incapable of withstanding the counterattack at all.

Gui Guzi seized the moment to raise his spear and shouted, "Kill! Destroy the Fire Catapults and ballistae first!"

……

My cloak flapped loudly behind me as I ran through the enemies like a bolt of bloody lightning. I fired multiple sword auras to clear the way before dropping Myriad Swords Obliteration right atop a Fire Catapult. Not done yet, I pressed my palm against the ground and conjured a stunningly huge hexagram, and the next moment countless dragons erupted into existence and annihilated both players and siege weapons alike.

"God dammit!"

In the sky, Vienna’s Sorrow uttered through gritted teeth, "Do you think I will allow you to continue rampaging like this, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!?"

His Blackwing roared as if it was ready to launch an attack.

While the enemy’s arrows and magic spells peppered uselessly against my Battle Astral Wind, I quickly dashed away from my original location, shortened the distance between us with a couple of jumps, jumped into the air and threw the Purple Ying Sword at the black dragon!

Bang!

Coiling Dragon Revolution slammed hard against the black dragon’s head and deleted a large chunk of mount tenacity immediately. After I caught my returning sword, I stared at Vienna’s Sorrow coldly and emotionlessly. My intention was clear. As long as I was still on the ground, I would never allow Vienna’s Sorrow to come down and assist his allies. He wouldn’t escape my blade a second time even if he was a dragon knight.

Vienna’s Sorrow turned pale and actually remained in the air. To be honest, Vienna’s Sorrow’s strength wasn’t so far behind mine that he didn’t stand a chance to beat me at all. The real difference between us was our level of motivation. I was fighting with everything I had because the last of our three main cities and my homeland was behind me. He, on the other hand, had successfully occupied Wind City and lacked the drive to push himself further than this. Also, however low that chance may be, I could still one-shot him. As the true champion of the USA, he couldn’t risk that blow to his image and reputation, or to his troops’ morale.

……

In the end, I was able to prevent the King of the North and the dragon knight Vienna’s Sorrow from landing through the sheer power of intimidation. While this was going on, I continued leading my generals and the Dragonlight Cavalry through the Northern Alliance’s ranks and reaping all lives around us. Of course, we suffered many casualties too because we were a troop of pure cavalry with no support whatsoever. In fact, the moment we slowed down our charge, there was a huge probability that our enemies would be able to devour us. So we didn’t.

In less than ten minutes, the Dragonlight Cavalry was able to destroy hundreds of Fire Catapults, basic catapults and more with their Barrier Breaks. Eventually, we cut a line through the entire Hero Alliance army and came face to face with Titan City’s third strongest guild, War Axe.

Standing in front of War Axe’s shield formation was their guild leader, Blade of Kings. He raised his frozen axe and roared, "The enemy before us is the China server’s strongest guild, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Since they have pierced through Hero Alliance’s defense, it falls upon us to stop them here. Show the Chinese your power and teach them not to look down on Titan City, brothers and sisters!"

I raised my own weapon and roared, "Just punch through them! Leave no one alive!"

The second I slammed into the shield formation, I immediately treated them to a heart-pounding Burning Blade Slash + Myriad Swords Obliteration combo. The enemy’s ranged players were focus-firing me with everything they got, but Battle Astral Wind was just too powerful. All the arrows and spells I received only felt like a tickle against my skin. Unless they were a top expert like Vienna’s Sorrow, there was basically no chance they could deal any fatal damage to me.

And so, I absorbed most of the enemy’s firepower while the others tore through War Axe’s defense line like an unstoppable train. Not only that, the Dragonlight Archers’ firepower arrived just in time to kill off the enemy’s ranged parties before they could launch their own attacks. As a result, War Axe’s counterattack was greatly diminished.

……

We were a lone army cutting through the enemy’s formation with no one to support us. We punched through War Axe’s defenses, divided almost a hundred other Northern Alliance guilds in half and penetrated at least fifteen kilometers deep into the enemy lines. The quote "leaving a trail of death and devastation in its wake" had never been as literal as it was now.

A true war required iron courage, and an unexpected frontal assault like this was what it took to shatter the Northern Alliance’s confidence completely.

The Nation War window in the guild interface displayed our battle result since the beginning of this Nation War—

Total Deaths: 479002

Total Kills: 7828831

……

Almost every player of ours had killed at least ten opponents. This was the true power of the Dragonlight and Zephyr Cavalries. Even better, many Northern Alliance guilds didn’t think that we would be able to make it to their location or thought that their allies at the front would be able to hold the line, and so suffered massive casualties as a result of their lack of preparation.

Boom!

After I killed a bunch of people with Thousand Ice Slash, I finally turned around and shouted, "Alright, that’s enough! Someone tell Gods of Destruction that we’re coming back now! Eve, order all our ballistae and White Marsh Catapults to cover our retreat! The enemy mustn’t be allowed to slip into the canyon while we’re making our return!"

"Got it!"

However, a surprising number of pursuers appeared behind us. It was because multiple people had shouted "The Chinese are defeated! Hunt them down now!" the moment we made our retreat.

Unfortunately for them, Beiming Xue and her elite Dragonlight Archers were able to foil their scheme. Their ceaseless suppressive fire and hit-and-run tactics tormented our pursuers so much that they gave up almost as quickly as they had given chase.

By the time we finally returned to the canyon entrance, seven hours had passed by in the blink of an eye. Every surviving Dragonlight Cavalry was as tattered and exhausted as they could be. While we were ravaging the Northern Alliance troops at the back, Vienna’s Sorrow had been fighting at the canyon entrance and attempting to blast his way in with a group of foot soldiers. However, Lu Buyi and his party of archers and mages was ultimately able to rain enough hell from the mountain ranges and keep them at bay.

Boom boom boom…

The White Marsh payloads landed among the Northern Alliance players and crushed everyone who was unlucky enough to be at the center of the impact. The resulting shockwave reduced much of the surrounding players’ HP as well. The Center was a rich and fertile place, and Sky City was the richest of all the three cities. Therefore, we had been able to produce tens of thousands of White Marsh Catapults, ballistae and more, push them to the mountains, and have them rain hellfire from above. The Northern Alliance numbered millions upon millions, but they weren’t able to push even a step closer.