Chapter 657: Aggroing The Enemy

Translator: alyschu

With a sweep of my sword, I blasted Throne Seeker’s guild leader out of the city. Turning around, I released another crescent wave of sword energy, and sent the Hall of Immortality’s guild leader hurling off the city walls. Alright, my job here is done!

A bunch of Hall of Immortality players stared at me with wide eyes. It was as if they were looking at an alien. Their grip on their weapons slackened as they quaked in fear.

The expression on Rose Thorn’s face turned ugly and she growled in a low voice, "Omigosh, even Lu Chen is here! We’re in deep shit now! Mages, bring the battleline forward. Bombard Lu Chen with Galaxy Storms! The morale of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will be greatly affected once their ace is dead!"

......

Do you think that I’ll even give you the chance, Rose Thorn?

"I’m not gonna play with you guys anymore! Bye bye!"

"Retreat!" I shouted to the rest of my troops as I urged the Armored Ice Qilin Horse forward. Letting out a loud whinny, the horse leaped down the city walls and my troops followed suit.

Goddammit, I am not gonna sacrifice my life. Especially not for the Warsky Alliance! The mages from Rose of the Holy Domain were so powerful that they would inflict heavy casualties on us even if we won. It definitely wasn’t worth it to go head to head with them.

Warsky looked at my retreating figure and said, "God damn! Lu Chen has no sense of loyalty at all..."

October Rain giggled gently and said, "You planned a sneak attack on the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and even challenged their ASUS Gaming Club during an offline event. And you have the cheek to talk about loyalty..."

Warsky grimaced at her words before he replied dejectedly, "Little Rain, why do you always side with Lu Chen..."

"Concentrate on fighting! I’ll use Multi Arrow to pin their mages down, so hit the ones who are injured. We also need to spread out so that their attacks don’t hit too many of us! Galaxy Storm has a casting time, you’ll be able to dodge the spell as long as you take note of that. Be careful, everyone!" October Rain continued to fulfill her role as Warsky Alliance’s beautiful strategist.

......

Bang!

I landed heavily on the ground as the Armored Ice Qilin Horse buckled and collapsed with a soft cry. What the hell! That landing had shaved off 25% from its tenacity bar! It had already taken way too much damage from all of those Mountain Stagger Arrows, so that crash landing had dropped my mount’s tenacity to a measly 17%. Without my superior level and my OP equipment, I’m afraid that I would have been dragged off my horse a long time ago. As expected, taking on a hundred men wasn’t a feat that any human should attempt.

I had also lost about 20% of my health after that crash landing. I easily dealt with that by using Tenacity of the Dead, pulling my health back up to 50%.

As I scanned the area around me, I noticed a bunch of Warsky Alliance players preparing to attack me. However, they instantly froze in their tracks when they heard October Rain yell, "Leave him be! Our enemy today isn’t Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!"

However, I wasn’t done yet. I immediately wheeled around and charged toward another part of the city, the Cyan Netherworld Sword held high in the air.

I saw Emperor’s Equal downing health potions as he raised a shield to block the arrows that the Warsky Alliance’s archers were shooting at him, filling it with arrows of all colors. However, their Attack was weak. None of their strikes were able to penetrate his Defense. Unfortunately for them, this attack only resulted in one thing, their demise. Emperor’s Equal simply charged forward and it had only taken a single swing of his sword to kill a bunch of them.

I could no longer sit on the sidelines anymore! I immediately spurred the Ice Qilin Horse forward and charged toward Emperor’s Equal like a bolt of lightning. Swirling indigo energy started to form around the tip of my Cyan Netherworld Sword as I activated Universe Break. Even if Emperor’s Equal had more than 50000 HP, Universe Break + Burning Blade Slash would still be more than enough to finish him!

It was as if Emperor’s Equal had sensed my killing intent, because he immediately turned around to look at me. His eyes filled with shock as he yelled, "Lu Chen, what kind of deep grudge do you have against me?! Why do you keep gunning for me?! I’ll remember this!"

Swhoosh!

I activated Universe Break as a flaming spiral of indigo energy shot straight at the opponent’s chest.

Emperor’s Equal turned pale with shock at my attack. He gritted his teeth as he turned a ring on his finger, causing a golden shield of light to instantly explode out from underneath him. He had entered a state of invincibility that would last for seven seconds! That was more than enough time for him to make his escape! He took out a return scroll from his inventory and crushed it instantly. It looks like Emperor’s Equal has perfected the legendary ‘invincibility>return scroll’ combo that Rose Thorn used back in Dark Moon City.

Before he disappeared, Emperor’s Equal looked at me with hatred in his eyes and said, "Lu Chen, I’ll be back for revenge! Just you wait!"

I chucked and replied, "Don’t go, let me stab you once before you go..."

Ptooey!

Emperor’s Equal spat on the ground right before the ray of light enveloped and took him away with a flash. Not a trace of him was left, he had been teleported back to the safe zone.

This poor guy had nearly been killed right outside his own city. He definitely wasn’t having any fun today.

......

I coolly stared at the Warsky Alliance players surrounding me as I leisurely galloped around the city walls, the Phantom Wolf King following closely behind me. All of them stared back at me warily but no one dared to attack me. The truth was that I would immediately slaughter all of them the moment someone attacked. If it’s a fight they want, then it’s a fight they’ll get!

A group of Warsky Alliance players acted as my bodyguards as we approached the city gates. I immediately tested the toughness of the gates by hitting it with my sword, but my attack hardly did anything to it. It looked like we would still rely on siege weapons to breach the city gates. If not, we would have to hack at it till the cows came home.

It was at this exact moment that I heard panicked shouts ring out from inside the city.

"Fuck, this is terrible! Farewell Song snuck into the city with a hundred assassins and assassinated the players guarding the teleportation formation. They also managed to kill off an entire squad of priests! Damn it all! Archers, use Volley to blanket the area. Let’s flush those assassins out! How the hell did they even manage to sneak inside in the first place?!"

I chuckled involuntarily at what I had just heard. Farewell Song truly lived up to his title as the number one assassin in the CGL Hall of Fame. He had made a great contribution by secretly infiltrating the city and successfully destroying the teleportation formation. Even though Cute Little Naughty was very strong herself, she did not have a Famous General Skill, much less one suited for assassins. Thus, there was no way that she would be able to infiltrate the city and assassinate the players guarding the teleportation formation.

He must have used a cloud ladder to sneak into the city with his squad. His Famous General Skill, Sneak Attack, greatly increased the effectiveness of all stealth skills, and it allowed his entire squad to enter the city without being detected by anyone. In fact, even suffering a direct hit from an arrow might not be enough to knock them out of stealth! It was truly a powerful skill.

I flew toward the east of the city where the troops of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, The Monarch Descends, Blazing Hot Lips, and Baidicheng were gathered. A massive army had been formed where our guilds had assembled and I would bet my house that there were more than seven hundred thousand players gathered there. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had brought about a hundred thousand elite troops while the other three guilds had brought over two hundred thousand troops each.

It was soon reaching the 5 hour mark and it was about time for us to mobilize our troops for a full-fledged attack.

......

"Lu Chen, shall we begin?" He Yi asked.

"Yup." I nodded my head. Turning to look at Stranger of Three Lifetimes, I asked, "Momo, are you ready?"

"Yes, we are!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes grasped her staff as she looked toward the city and said, "I’ve prepared more than a thousand cloud ladders and a dozen siege towers for this battle. Hehe, I’m sure that we will be able to breach the walls in an hour and invade the city in two. We should be able to occupy the main hall within three hours of entering the city!"

I nodded my head and let out a relieved smile, "Great! It’s good that we’re well-prepared. Let’s begin, shall we?"

"Okay!"

Strangers of Three Lifetimes smiled confidently and said, "The fighting has been extremely fierce on the other three sides of the city. Hall of Immortality and Rose of the Holy Domain are currently busy dealing with Warsky Alliance. Since they are too busy to turn their attention to us, we’ll make use of this opportunity to avoid the attacks of their arrow towers and breach the city. By the time they mobilize their troops to stop us, it will be too late!"

"Okay! Let’s prepare to advance and attack!"

"Hold on."

"What is it?"

Stranger of Three Lifetimes pointed behind her and said, "We have a few hundred engineers here and all of them are carrying cloud ladders. However, I’m afraid that the attacks of the arrow towers might be too strong for my cavalry troops to defend against. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls’ cavalrymen are renowned for their strength, could we trouble you to help us protect these engineers?"

I nodded my head and said, "Alright, leave the engineers to me!"

Smiling, I turned toward the group of engineers and said, "Comrades of the production classes, come with me! The riders of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will protect all of you as we move forward!"

The group of engineers nodded their heads one by one.

I turned around and shouted, "Gui Guzi, Heaven’s Rain, Diamond Dust, each of you gather a hundred riders and protect these engineers till they reach the city gates! Don’t mess this up! These guys are our friends from Blazing Hot Lips and it would be better for us to get hurt than them..."

Gui Guzi raised his sword and laughed, saying, "Don’t worry, boss! Leave it to us!"

"I’ll advance with you guys. Reduce the speed of your mounts and advance slowly. I want everyone to put up their shields!"

"Yessir!"

......

I also led a troop of four hundred riders forward. However, I activated Iron Wall VII instead of my Famous General Skill this time. My current Tactics stat was 419, so it increased the effectiveness of all my stratagems by 419%. As a result of that, this Iron Wall VII, which normally increased the Defense of all players in my party by 20%, now increased their Defense by a whopping 103.8%! Although this was nothing compared to Little Piglet’s Vajra, it was still extremely useful in situations like this. This was even more true for Famous Generals who had entered the Earthfire Realm, as their stratagems could be shared with four hundred other players! Being able to form large parties was truly the path to victory!

After we had finished assembling into our respective formations, our troops began to move forward. I hefted the Cyan Netherworld Sword over my shoulder as I summoned a new double and started trotting forward, the Phantom Wolf King prowling right behind me. I was protecting a middle-aged engineer, and we were chatting leisurely as we advanced toward the city.

"How old are you, uncle? It’s admirable for someone of your age to still be playing games. What’s it like playing as a production class?"

"It’s great actually! I do online marketing for a living and I have quite a bit of spare time, so I decided to play a production class in Heavenblessed. I’ll spend my time either farming or mining, and I enjoy it very much! Lu Chen, you’re really good at this game and many players in Heavenblessed idolize you!"

"Haha, I’m just alright..."

"By the way, my daughter is in her second year of university and has always idolized you. I have to ask. Lu Chen, do you have a girlfriend?"

Standing a few feet away from me, He Yi turned her head and glanced at me. I shivered slightly before replying with a sheepish smile, "Yes, I do..."

"Oh, what a pity. My daughter is nineteen this year and she’s really beautiful..."

I let out an embarrassed cough before replying, "Oh yes, that really is a pity..."

He Yi tore her eyes away from me and kept silent.

......

It was at this moment that we entered the range of the arrow towers. We heard a loud twang as a storm of thick metal arrows flew toward us!

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The riders instantly raised their shields as the iron arrows bounced off them. However, I had no shield and I could only hold up my arm to protect myself. Murong Mingyue immediately started chanting and an AoE healing spell fell over our heads, instantly pulling our health back up.

"Weather the storm and push on!" I commanded in a loud voice.

The vanguard continued to advance slowly while the second battle line, consisting of Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon, and Xu Yang, soon joined us. Once the ladders were in place, our people would be able to breach the city in no time.

As we entered the attack range of the enemy archers, He Yi’s sweet voice rang out, "You and Yun, go and draw the enemy’s fire and soak up some damage!"

"Alright!"

Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun turned his head and signaled for his troops to follow him. Urging his mount forward, he activated Flying General, causing a bloody ring of light to start circling around him. He led a group of riders forward as they charged toward the city like streaking bolts of lightning! Even if my Armored Ice Qilin Horse was running at full speed, it still wouldn’t be able to keep up with them!

The row of archers and mages on the city walls turned pale with shock. "We have a group of enemy players rushing toward us at an insane speed! We need to focus our fire on them! Quickly!"

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Arrows and spells started to pour down from the walls, but Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and his troops were simply too quick. As a result, the enemy’s Spiraling Arrow Blades and Galaxy Storms simply missed their targets, landing behind them and exploding like firecrackers.

Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun continued to arrogantly pace in front of the city walls, as he continued to do a magnificent job of drawing in the enemy’s fire. Even then, he suffered extremely small losses as only a few dozen riders had died to that hail of metal arrows. The battle tactics of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls were indeed superior to that of many other guilds!