Chapter 1550: Slowly Baiting The Enemy

Burning Plains.

The ground of the Burning Plains was ashen, thick steam rising out of the ground. The scorching hot wind blowing against our faces added to the feeling that the map was constantly on fire. Various mobs were roaming the map as a matter of course, but they were nothing the second subguild of Ancient Sword couldn’t handle.

We made a quick tally prior to coming to the Burning Plains. Excluding the Dragonlight Cavalrymen, the Dragonlight Archers and the Holy Mages, the second subguild had about 81k players of everything else. They were currently standing behind us in a long line, and they all would be spilling their last drop of blood on this scorching hot land.

The Northern Alliance was pushing the China server from the front, and Cyan Earth City from the right. It was imperative that we finish off the Chaotic 27 as soon as possible before they could put us between a rock and a hard place.

……

As we waited for the enemy to arrive, Disillusion asked me from atop his Dragonscale Beast, "How should we fight this battle, Lu Chen?"

"Grab every advantage you can possibly get."

"Mn. You voiced my thoughts." Disillusion chuckled. "At the very least, I want everyone to earn enough Nation War contribution points to increase a level before they die!"

I nodded while observing my surroundings. Although the Burning Plains were mostly barren, there were small clumps of shrubbery that were just tall enough to hide a person. I pointed at them and said, "Tell your mages, archers, priests and other non-melee classes to hide over there. We’re going to fight the enemy with pure cavalrymen for a bit before withdrawing to that location and setting up a defense line. There, we’ll rely on our ranged players to deal as much damage to our enemies as possible."

"No problem!"

About 3 hours of silence later, a halberd-wielding warrior flew over from the horizon and stopped in front of us. He was of course Li Chengfeng. He said, "The first wave of cavalrymen is about 3 to 4 guilds, 1.5 million players strong. I see Brazillians, Argentinians, and South Africans among them. They should arrive in 20 minutes!"

I nodded. "Got it. Everyone, apply your buffs and cards and prepare for combat!"

Chiang chiang chiang…

Every player on the one-kilometer-long battle line unsheathed their weapons and stared at the spot the enemy was expected to emerge from. No one retreated even though this was a battle where they were ordered to fight to their last breath.

For a moment, it felt like the air itself had turned solid. Then, ten or so minutes later, the distant noise of thundering hooves grew closer and closer until a huge wave of red-name cavalrymen emerged from the horizon. They were none other than the players of the Chaotic 27. On a side note, they had declared war on our server a while ago.

Swhoosh!

I unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword and shouted, "Prepare for battle!"

Red hot smoke exited the Dragonscale Beasts’ nostrils as the players raised their weapons. From the opposite side, our battle line probably looked like a long, blood-red river. Aesthetics aside, we certainly intended to wet the soil with the blood of our enemies!

𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

……

Several hundred yards away, a Level 255 Argentinian cavalryman narrowed his eyes at us for a second before grabbing the battle axe on his back. Guffawing loudly, he said, "The reception’s here, people! Kakaka, the Chinese truly are a hospitable bunch. Not only did they send someone to receive us, they even sent the best guild of their entire server, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, hahaha! There’s only tens of thousands of them though. Go get them, braves of the Chaotic 27! Tear them to pieces and let them know that we are not to be trifled with!"

"Here they come!" The corners of my lips turned up as I said in a low tone, "Don’t get lost in bloodlust when the battle begins. We’re going to fight them for only 5 minutes before withdrawing to our battle line. Magic knights, make sure you use Trapping Nets to delay the enemy’s advance!"

Disillusion nodded affirmatively. "Got it, vice leader!"

"Let’s go!" I shouted and exploded at the enemy at low altitude. The moment I got close, I concentrated Burning Blade Slash at a single spot and was able to kill nearly a hundred cavalrymen immediately. My skill did almost 10 million total damage per person, and since they rode over in a hurry, far ahead of their ranged and supporting players, their buffs had expired a long time ago. The cards they used only buffed their max HP to 5 million or so, so there was no chance they could’ve survived my attack!

"Kill!"

Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and more raised their weapons. The elites of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls then charged straight toward the enemies!

Both sides agreed that no verbal exchange was necessary. The sounds of clashing blades, blades cutting into flesh, battle cries and painful screams intermingled with each other all too quickly. An instant later, the soil of the Burning Plains was completely dyed in red!

Meanwhile, I waited until the timing was right and executed the Xuanyuan Art, removing 70% HP from all enemies!

As countless damage numbers rose into the air, I followed up with a dozen or so Ancient Seals that one-shot nearly everyone I struck. It was incredibly fun one-shotting low-health enemies with Ancient Seal!

Gui Guzi was riding his giant dragon and casting a skill that caught me by surprise. As it turned out, his Ghostblade Halberd had undergone an evolution sometime during the war, and his Hundred Ghosts Descent had also transformed into Thousand Ghosts Descent. The skill now had an area of effect with a 400-yard diameter. Naturally, the enemy suffered even greater damage!

Trapping Nets flew in from every direction and forced Gui Guzi and me to back off temporarily. As if on cue, He Yi stepped up and cut down most of the nets with Stormwind Slash. The feat also enabled a group of Profound Wolf and Thunder Cavalrymen to charge the enemy!

……

Five minutes passed by in the blink of an eye. When it was time, I immediately rose my sword and shouted, "Withdraw now!"

Our players immediately turned around and galloped away as quickly as they could. Of course, the players of the Chaotic 27 weren’t idiots. They immediately tossed out their Trapping Nets and were able to trap thousands of players. Their only fate was to be cut down by the enemies.

Thankfully, about 30k cavalrymen were able to withdraw to the shrubberies where we had hidden our ranged units and set up a defense line. As the Chaotic 27’s cavalrymen continued to charge us, Disillusion raised his weapon and shouted, "It’s time! Far Shot your attacks and kill as many enemies as you can!"

A large number of players stepped out of the shrubberies and filled the ears with the sound of bow twangs, chanting and whistling[1]. The bards and tacticians also refreshed the buffs on our frontliners.

……

"Ambush! We shouldn’t charge further, Crimson Pillar!" an Argentinian player shouted.

Unfortunately, his guild leader had given into his bloodlust that completely overtook his rationality. "So what? They only have 100k players at most! Are you telling me we can’t overrun them with 6 million cavalrymen? Unless you want to bring shame to our Black Earth City, charge them with everything you've got! Kill every Chinese player who dares to stand in your way! The time to earn Nation War contribution points is now!"

"Hold!" My order was very simple. "Focus-fire the enemy with 3 to 5 Barrier Breaks. They have no buffs or heals, so they aren’t as threatening as they look!"

Everyone held their breaths. Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng and He Yi were already charging the enemy and causing as much chaos as possible to minimize the inevitable impact on the battle line. As for me, I simply cast the Death skill of Xuanyuan Art again to reduce HP of all enemies within 1,000 yards of me by 70%. Cavalrymen’s HP-recovery abilities were much poorer compared to the other classes[2]. They could only rely on their passive regeneration, shitty health recovery skills, and health potions to recover their HP. As a result, most of them dropped in a single hit or two after the Xuanyuan Art had removed 70% of their HP!

Thud thud thud…

Arrows rained atop the enemy and killed countless. It almost seemed like everyone we fought had low health because the Xuanyuan Art had affected around 50k enemies in one cast!

Equipment and potions stacked on the frontline like crazy as the players of the Chaotic 27 kept dying. However, the enemy far outnumbered us, and it was only a matter of time before we were overrun. Even with healing, our Profound Wolf Cavalrymen and Thunder Cavalrymen were dying at an incredible rate as well. Even with Beiming Xue and Lian Xin giving it their all and racking in a ton of Nation War contribution points from the sky, it still wasn’t enough to stop the second subguild’s formation from collapsing!

Finally, when the number of enemy cavalrymen grew to 2 million or so, the second subguild’s defense line finally collapsed completely!

……

Disillusion looked at us and shouted, "We can’t hold them back any longer, boss! Pull back while we cover your retreat!"

I nodded and said, "Chengfeng, Eve, let’s go. We’ll attack as we withdraw!"

As I fought my way to the back, I watched as Disillusion and the second subguild players were being overwhelmed by the Chaotic 27’s cavalrymen. Despite this, they fought with everything they had and not a word of complaint reached our ears.

Boom!

Trapping Nets nipped on my heels as I continued to retreat. The Chaotic 27’s strategy was simple but effective. Their plan was to immobilize our players indefinitely with Trapping Nets and skewer them with Barrier Breaks until they died. Many of our melee players had died this way.

Around 40 minutes later, there were less than a thousand Ancient Sword players left on the battlefield.

I waved my sword and said, "Withdraw now! Those who are still alive, withdraw with me now!"

Pa!

Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and everyone else who could fly joined me as I took to the sky. I watched as hundreds of Profound Wolf Cavalrymen kept the enemy at bay as best they could while withdrawing into Autumn Forest Trail. The enemy cavalrymen kept pushing despite having lost 500k players in the battle. I counted at least 2 million people chasing after our people like an unstoppable tidal wave.

"Boss, we need to stop! There might be an ambush!"

Many Chaotic 27 players shouted similar warnings, but as I had mentioned before, the tidal wave of flesh was unstoppable. Even though they knew that there might be a trap ahead of them, the over-two-million cavalry troop at the back could only chase after their 2 million allies at the front. It felt almost unbelievable that our several hundred Profound Wolf Cavalrymen were dragging around a tail of over 4 million enemies.

……

In the guild channel, I said slowly, "Chaos Moon, Fighting Spirits, Little Rain, Little Diamond, careful now. The Chaotic 27’s cavalrymen are entering Autumn Forest Trail right now. Engage the enemy once they’re inside. The Dragonlight Cavalry will withdraw after 30 minutes, and the Dragonlight Archers will provide cover via hit-and-run tactics. Once we’ve lured all 5 million cavalrymen into Falling Goose Valley, plug every exit and start shooting the fish in the barrel. Don’t let a single one of them escape alive!

After the enemy has fully entered the valley, I want the Dragonlight Cavalry to split into 150,000-man parties and carve up their entire formation as quickly as you can. I want all of them to be stuck in the combat state and so that none of them can teleport back to the city! Holy Mages, you know what to do. Wipe them all out with your spells!"

Chaos Moon replied, "Understood, sir. By the way, where are you right now?"

"In the sky. Now, carry out my orders!"

"Will do!"

Ten minutes later, I unsheathed my sword and ordered, "Attack!"

Battle cries filled Autumn Forest Trail as 100k elites broke out of their hiding spots and engaged the Chaotic 27. The Dragonlight Cavalry was far stronger than the Profound Wolf Cavalry or the Thunder Cavalry because their Attack and Defense were increased by 50% thanks to Dragon Soul, and because some of them were buffed by Lu Buyi’s Purple Dragon. The enemy were incapable of piercing their Defense at all!

……

Swhoosh!

I dropped from the sky and shattered a ring of people with War Crush. Then, I cast the Xuanyuan Art and slapped down a row of Ancient Seals. He Yi, Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng and more were swooping down from the sky and executing their own combos as well. Once again, we had fully engaged the enemy!

Just ten minutes later, Chaos Moon yelled, "Retreat back to Falling Goose Valley! They’re too strong!"

1. T/N: tamers whistle when they summon apparently ☜

2. E/N: We don’t know either. I have no clue what other classes even have HP regen. Mages? Archers? Assassins? Nope. But clearly cavalrymen who actually have these skills have poorer recovery than other classes. We don’t know. ☜