Chapter 972: Struggle of Ants

Translator: alyschu

"Fuck, it looks like Mad Dragon’s going to fall before the first wave is even over..." Du Thirteen said a bit regretfully as he watched the chaos that was unfolding in Mad Dragon’s formation.

Chaos Moon cut down a couple of Corpse Eaters with Rock Crush before replying, "I’d be surprised if they managed to hold out successfully. Mad Dragon’s normal players have always been lacking in terms of equipment grade, and most of the leveling maps in Sky City are under other guilds’ control. For example, the majority of Dragonbone Mountain Range is under Snowy Cathaya, The Monarch Descends and our control, the west side of Sky Forest is occupied by Warsky Alliance, and the other side of the mountain is taken by Gods of Destruction. Also, Hegemon Palace’s Wang Dongliang hates Roaming Dragon. How can they possibly grow stronger when all they can find are leftovers from other guilds?"

I sighed. "Back in the day, Mad Dragon was strong enough to chase me when I was killing Green Mantises at Floating Ice Forest, and that one time I was grinding Wasps. Even Lin Yixin had suffered in their hands once or twice. Who would’ve thought that they would fall to this extent..."

He Yi said, "I would pity them if I didn’t know how ruthless they are when PKing weaker players. That being said, these mobs are unusually powerful. I just received news that Hegemon Palace and Gods of Destruction are showing signs of crumbling as well. They’re losing players too quickly, and this storm of death isn’t showing any signs of pausing anytime soon."

After hacking a group of half-health Vampires and Wraiths into dust with Burning Blade Slash, I said, "We can care for the others after we finish defending our side of the wall. Don’t forget that Sophie is here. They only have to handle one hurricane, but we may have to handle two if she feels like it!"

Chaos Moon rode past me and picked up a golden ring from the ground. "Heehee, the good news is the mob drop rate is pretty high. Even if we die in the end, the loot alone is worth the level loss, not to mention that the mob experience is also pretty high."

"Yeah."

We nodded and went back to fighting the mobs quietly. In front of us, Mad Dragon players kept being beaten back again and again until finally, Iron Pardon raised his sword and shouted, "Retreat! We will fight again once we reach the city’s fortifications! Corrosive Armor Earth Dragon Riders, follow me!"

The riders of low-rank Earth Dragons immediately pulled back, but still countless people were caught up by the Corpse Eaters and killed. Earth Dragons’ stats were almost the same as the Cyan Battle Tigers—that was to say, they were far too weak at the current stage of the game. The terrifying dread-rank mobs had torn through them like paper.

"Roar roar..."

Not only that, a dozen or so Devil Giants swung their rock pillars and knocked an entire group of Earth Dragon Riders into the air. Both the player and their mounts were crushed into meat pies. The only solace to be taken in the sight was that it only lasted an instant before they dissolved into white light and drifted off to tier 2 cities such as Floating Ice City. Until the "Fury of the Goddess of Death" event was over, they wouldn’t be able to set foot in Sky City’s domain.

"Well, Mad Dragon’s gone. It’s our turn to bear the brunt of the wave!"

My blood bubbled in excitement as the black wave swarmed toward us. I abruptly raised my sword and shouted, "Right wing, open up a path so that Mad Dragon can retreat safely! Dragonlight Cavalry, mount up, shield up and prepare for impact! Damage dealers, be ready to shoot the second the enemy gets into range! Archers, use your Skypiercers and Spiraling Arrow Blades now! Damage the monster wave as much as you can before they hit our frontliners!"

Leading almost a thousand Dragonlight Cavalry, Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi charged the Corpse Eaters pursuing Mad Dragon’s three thousand Corrosive Armor Earth Dragon Riders and stopped them in their tracks. After launching a Reverse Scale Slash into a group of mobs, Li Chengfeng looked at Iron Pardon and shouted, "What are you waiting for? Go!"

Chiang chiang chiang...

The Corpse Eaters bit and tore into Li Chengfeng’s arm like crazy. Not even the dragon warrior could tank them without effort.

Iron Pardon gritted his teeth but obeyed the advice, leading the rest of Mad Dragon’s frontliners way back to the eastern gate. Roaming Dragon and Coldmoon Rose were already waiting for him there, and Roaming Dragon said angrily, "What the fuck is wrong with these mobs? How are they so powerful? And how is Ancient Sword’s cavalry doing so well when our Corrosive Armor Earth Dragon Riders could barely withstand a hit?"

A stunned Coldmoon Rose replied while watching the terrible battle happening in front of them, "I heard Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had changed all their mounts to an Earth Rank boss mount called ‘Dragonscale Beast’. That’s why they can tank those mobs head-on, and we can’t..."

Roaming Dragon sucked in a deep breath before asking, "And how can we obtain those mounts, Rose? We’ll never stand on any battlefield worth fighting for without high-level cavalry."

Coldmoon Rose sighed. "It’s difficult. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls built their cavalry using Lu Chen’s MVP reward, so..."

Iron Pardon reached them at this moment and asked, "What should we do now?"

Roaming Dragon raised his sword and ordered, "We will stay right here outside the gates! If Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls falters, then we’ll replace them and fight until the end! What is a level compared to our pride? We may die, but we’ll never cower!"

The Mad Dragon players raised their weapons and screamed their battle cry. It would be a very touching sight if they were utterly crushed by the mobs a moment ago...

......

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Back at the frontline, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and the Dragonlight Cavalry returned to us and reformed the defense line after saving Mad Dragon. He Yi and I had been fighting at the forefront while they were gone. As the guild leader and the vice leader of the guild, it was our responsibility to act as examples. Our presence would inspire the players to keep fighting.

"1, 2, 3, 4... 17, 18..."

Chaos Moon’s eyes kept widening as she counted. "Holy shit! That’s 29 Heaven Rank Devil Giants charging us at the same time! Can we hold this?"

He Yi shot her a reassuring smile. "It’ll be fine. We have the strongest mounted archer legion in the entire world!"

A volley of arrows took to the sky before she finished her sentence. Under Beiming Xue’s leadership, over 2000 Dragonlight Archers had fired their Skypiercers and Spiraling Arrow Blades over our heads and into the black sea of mobs running toward us.

Thud thud thud thud...

The arrows drilled holes into the Corpse Eaters’ eyeballs and heads, drawing black blood and unholy screams of pain everywhere. Even the Skeletal Braves’ metal armor couldn’t withstand the might of our mounted archers at all. Hordes of mobs dropped dead before they reached us and delivered streams of experience into their killers.

Unfortunately, the arrow rain was far less effective against the Devil Giants. The skin of the Heaven Rank minibosses was literally made of stone, so no one besides an exceptional archer like Beiming Xue really had the firepower necessary to break its Defense. Mostly unhindered by the arrow rain, the Devil Giants shoved their rocky sticks beneath their armpits, dropped to all fours and ran toward us like animals. They didn’t care for the corpses of Corpse Eaters and Skeletal Braves they trampled at all. Suddenly, they leaped into the air long before they reached our frontline!

"Shit!"

I hastily barked an order, "These fuckers are trying to leap over our defense line! Stop them now!"

At the same time, I stood on top of my mount’s back, jumped into the air and activated Great Earth Transformation. Then, I launched Burning Blade Slash at the Devil Giant directly in front of me, greatly slowing its momentum. Once I got close enough to hit it with my sword, I smashed its head and sent it flying to the ground!

BOOM!

I returned to my mount after the interception.

Everyone else—Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits and more—followed my example and shot down the minibosses before they could reach our backline. Unfortunately, not all of the interceptions were successful, and at least a dozen Devil Giants managed to jump over the first defense line. They were huge too, so a simple sweep was all they needed to crush countless archers and tamers into pieces.

Pa!

There was a flash of red light, and Cute Little Naughty appeared out of nowhere to stun a Devil Giant. Together with the others, she just barely managed to keep the miniboss under control.

Lu Buyi waved his silver fan and fired a couple Dragon Vein Art spells, also aggroing a Devil Giant to himself. He backpedaled in a zigzag pattern before the miniboss could reach him, and buffed all the guild members around him with Purple Dragon so that they would have the stats necessary to fight it. His one party actually managed to control three Devil Giants in total.

Further back, Beiming Xue kept two Devil Giants busy, and Lian Xin, another two. Despite the suddenness of the situation and the loss of many guildmates, everyone was able to keep their cool and find a way to deal with the minibosses before them instead of escaping.

It was both awesome and terrifying. Everyone was doing their best to keep the dozen of minibosses who had slipped behind our lines under control.

Still dishing out damage at the frontlines, I ordered, "Chaos Moon, take 2000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen with you! Your job will be to clean up all the mobs that are airdropped behind us!"

Chaos Moon was a smart girl, so she understood my intentions immediately. Unlike a normal monster attack, this one airdropped all their mobs from the sky, adding an entire dimension of difficulty into the defense. That was why we needed the powerful and tanky Dragonlight Cavalry to play clean-up at the back, or our backline would collapse long before the front.

......

The Devil Giants had incredible Attack, and a single Rock Sweep could turn many magic knights into pancakes. However, as it was the case in any game, great danger came with great opportunity. These Devil Giants yielded so much loot and experience that it was enough to drive a calm person to insanity. If we lost, then it would be a nightmare as a matter of course. But if we won, then these Devil Giants were a free buffet.

Thankfully, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had plenty of pinnacle-level players and Famous Generals. We were more or less able to withstand the first wave without trouble. Of all of us, Gui Guzi and his party were the tankiest of them all because his Spear of the Knight God improved his Famous General Skill’s effects by a whopping 100%. Not even the Devil Giants were able to threaten them as the Dragonlight Cavalry destroyed them one by one.

......

Both I and my Ancient Divine Dragon were able to gain a huge amount of experience. It took the dragon less than an hour to level up ten times. I shot the little guy a look and noted that it was still sleeping on my arm despite all the commotion. Unbelievable.

A while later, the storm of death finally lessened in intensity, leaving behind countless dead bodies, equipment, magic stones and more. Unfortunately, we suffered a not-insignificant amount of losses to take out all these powerful dread-rank mobs.

At the front, the line of Dragonlight Cavalry smiled in relief when they noticed that the amount of mobs was lessening. Speaking of which, they all had pitch black umbrellas standing on their shoulders, and it was of course the pet, Ghost Chariot. The Ghost Chariots were absolutely critical in the battle, slaughtering countless Corpse Eaters even without any help from their masters.

During a lull I took a moment to glare at the Goddess of Death, Sophie. A glimmer of fire peeked through my eyes.

Seemingly watching me as well, Sophie smiled a little and murmured, "Hmph, the struggle of ants..."