Chapter 449 The Defense and Attack Gamble
Li Mu and Qing Qian led the players from [Zhan Long]’s main guild down a small valley on the western side. I was further ahead, and arrived at the northwestern side of the city. Shocked, I saw that [Flying Dragon] was being massacred by [House of Prestige]. [Flying Dragon] was left with only critically injured players and could only make a miserable retreat. Drunken Spear swept out his spear, bringing up the rear.
“Retreat!”
Soaring Dragon was enraged, “[House of Prestige] is too strong. We can’t take them head on. We’ll spread out in the forest towards the back of the Grave of the Warring States, and battle there. Little Flower*, hold our position!”
TL Note: Drunken Spear
Drunken Spear raised his shield as countless [Magma Abyss]es exploded under his feet. His health was constantly falling. All he could do was miserably retreat. Pursing his lips, he pouted, “I’m just a small team leader, why are you giving me such an important task….”
“Peng!”
His shield shook again as a plume struck the back. It was Bai Li Ruofeng’s arrow. Drunken Spear’s health dropped 2000 points from that one attack. He was at the point where he could barely keep his life. With a swing of his spear, his [Scorching Spring] exploded before him, forcing Bai Li Ruofeng and Quick Thunder Swift Wind to retreat. In a flash, he took the rest of the critically injured [Flying Dragon] players to retreat.
……
Bai Li Ruofeng was speechless. He raised his longbow and chased after them with Quick Thunder Swift Wind and a group of elite [House of Prestige] players. He had no other target but to to take that Talisman that was in Soaring Dragon’s hands!
As I ran, I carefully watched the situation on the map. [Soaring Dragon] had retreated into a forest. Behind that forest was an icy forest named “Ice Abyss”. Right in the middle of that forest was a chasm that was similar to Green Qilin Abyss. It was around a hundred meters wide. Once you fell in, coming back up was probably not that easy. This Forest Abyss was a newly spawned map, and so many players from Ba Huang City aren’t very familiar with the area. That was probably even more true for the players from Jiu Li City’s [House of Prestige]. Soaring Dragon wasn’t an idiot, it looks like he wants to use the abyss to drop [House of Prestige] into the pit.
I looked at the map a little more carefully again. Yup, west of the Forest Abyss was the extremely dense forest, “Red Cloud Forest”. Everywhere, there were fire like red maple trees and was named “Red Cloud Forest”. There wasn’t even 100 meters of distance between the two forests. Once [Flying Dragon] passes through the Forest Abyss while being pursued by [House of Prestige], Red Cloud Forest was the best place to launch their counterattack. It was a well hidden map, with open spaces that made it easy to move.
I made my decision, to go to Red Cloud Forest. [Zhan Long] will counterattack [House of Prestige] here! I sent the coordinates to Qing Qian and Li Mu, and began preparing for battle! [House of Prestige] had around 20,000 people. Even though there were quite a few enemies, with a surprise attack they would still be at a disadvantage. Add onto that, [Vanguard], [Flying Dragon], and [Zhan Long] will combine into a three way attack. Even if [House of Prestige] was the second strongest guild of Jiu Li City, they would still lose to us!
……
At that moment, a small guild and some solo players appeared right in front of us. One of them was carrying a battle mace, and his greedy eyes looked straight at me. He shouted out, “Look, there’s a person with two Talismans. Brothers, let’s go and kill him. We’ll kill him in one attack, and those Talismans will become ours!”
“Pei, that’s [Zhan Long]’s Guild Master Xiao Yao Zi Zai. Not getting killed by him would be pretty good already, and you want to try and kill him….”
“Damn, Old Four*, why don’t you have more guts? You don’t want to fight with Old Two, and Old Three? You’re as cowardly as a rat. I was really wrong about you. It’s not worth becoming friends with a scoundrel….”
TL Note: “Bros” would commonly refer to them by numbers, lined up from oldest to youngest.
That Lv 77 Berserker raised his mace, and took several dozen people to ambush us. He gave a whoop. His voice carried, and I knew that carrying two Talismans would definitely put a target on my head. I was probably going to get attacked everywhere. On the bright side, I had people with me.
Behind me, Matcha waved her sword and shouted, “Everyone, attack! Protect the Guild Master!”
A bunch of beautiful heavy armor players suddenly rushed forward. Tang Xin, Moon Feather, and Winter Snow all had weapons in their hands and followed Matcha. [Skyshaker Slash], [Flying Sword], and [Blade Rush] all joined together and in a flash, the explosion wiped out all of the people who were trying to kill me. This was very relieving. Matcha was well-raised into becoming an amazing Team Military Advisor and Close Combat Team Leader. Even her own strength was increasing exponentially, and her reputation amongst [Zhan Long] members was constantly rising.
……
We didn’t have to walk far to get to our target. A ten man squad went to scout out the forest ahead.
“Hu hu….”
Tang Xin was gasping for air. The two peaks on her chest were constantly rising up and down. She smiled, “Guild Master, are we scouting ahead? I’ve never heard of a Guild Master personally going to scout out an area. Aren’t you afraid that we’ll be killed on the way by [House of Prestige]?”
I raised my Dragon Reservoir Sword and smiled, “I actually want some [House of Prestige] members to try and kill me. The more people the better, it’s basically sending points our way.”
Matcha fluttered her eyes, and smiled, “Boss, are you that sure that [Vanguard] will join us, and launch an ambush against [House of Prestige] from the North and South?”
“Yup, I’m sure!”
I followed up with an explanation, “In the battle between Ba Huang City and Jiu Li City, Jian Feng Han was bullied a lot by [House of Prestige]. Right now is the best time for vengeance. Besides, Jian Feng Han is an extremely prideful person. He’s always thought of Ba Huang City as his own backyard. How can he possibly allow [House of Prestige] to come into Ba Huang City’s borders and do whatever they want?”
“Yup, if [Vanguard] were to attack with us, then we’ll definitely win. Otherwise, it’d be hard to say, since [House of Prestige]’s 20,000 man force isn’t there just for looks!”
“Don’t worry, we will win!”
……
Not long after, [Zhan Long]’s 10,000 man army quietly walked into Red Cloud Forest through a small path. There wasn’t much movement in the forest. Just a few birds that were flying around. Li Mu and Qing Qian walked close by. Li Mu wiped away some sweat from his forehead and smiled, “It’s early morning right now. By the time [House of Prestige] gets here, the sun will have risen. Let’s make sure to give them a good beating!”
Qing Qian fiddled with a leaf in her hair and smiled, “Brother Xiao Yao, should we start setting up the formation?”
“Yup.”
I nodded once and added, “We’ll set up on the border of Red Cloud Forest, and be ready to attack and defend at any time. [House of Prestige] isn’t the type of enemy you’d want to conserve your energy against. We have to make sure we prepare for everything. Everyone has to make sure that they don’t accidentally appear in the clearings. We have to do our best to keep our location hidden. Melon, can you delete everyone that’s not an officer from the guild chat? Only allow the guild commanders and team leaders to talk on there!”
“Alright!”
Qing Qian smiled, “Actually, I’ve been thinking of doing it for a while. Otherwise, our secrets will always get out sooner or later. But, if we were to do that, a lot of people would probably complain, so I didn’t mention it. Now that Brother Xiao Yao, the Guild Master, said to do so, they have nothing else to say!”
“Yup. Besides, we might be able to take out the spies that other guilds have placed in our ranks!”
“Alright!”
……
The 10,000 member [Zhan Long] army all entered the Red Cloud Forest. We stepped onto a ground covered with leaves, and laid in waiting in a dense area on the border. The entire border of the forest was covered with heavy armor players, making it easy for us to both defend and attack. I walked out of the forest with my Dragon Reservoir Sword in hand, as my battle boots stepped on the snow of Forest Abyss. Step by step, I walked forward. My location was public, and every few minutes the system would publicly announce it, which made it unsuitable for me to stay with everyone else. I could only walk around on the outside by myself.
“Sha sha….”
From a distance, I could hear the sound of a large group of people running through the snow. The next moment, Soaring Dragon and a group of [Flying Dragon] players were crowding around a place in the Forest Abyss. Black Tortoise, Drunken Spear, and others also came out. I glanced at the group and saw that there were around 5000 players left in their group. Looks like [House of Prestige] dealt quite a bit of damage to them.
“Go around the abyss and reform alongside the abyss!”
Soaring Dragon had the insignia of a Talisman floating above his head. He raised his staff and shouted, “Do not get too close to the abyss. If you fall in, you won’t be able to get back up. We’re going to set up on both sides of it. Once the players from [House of Prestige] get close, we’ll immediately make our counterattack and push them all into the abyss!”
Just as expected, Soaring Dragon was planning on using the Abyss as a pitfall. However, it was definitely not going to be that easy. For one, [House of Prestige] had the advantage in numbers. For another, Bai Li Ruofeng wasn’t an idiot. He wasn’t going to stand near the abyss. That was basically tantamount to suicide. If he was like that, Bai Li Ruofeng would never make it as a top tier player. At the least, he wouldn’t make a stupid mistake like that.
……
“Hua la….”
A group of birds suddenly flew out of the trees. Finally, the 20,000 players from [House of Prestige] all appeared out of the snow. Bai Li Ruofeng raised his longbow, his eyes filled with pride as he looked at Soaring Dragon. He couldn’t help but grin, “So, when they’re cornered, even rabbits will try and bite people. We need to be careful, looks like [Flying Dragon] is going to fight for their lives here!”
“Boss!”
Quick Thunder Swift Wind was carrying the God Destroyer Mace. He reached out and pointed in my direction, “Look over there. Isn’t that our old rival Xiao Yao Zi Zai? He has two Talismans right now and actually dared to appear in this Forest Abyss all by himself. Is he looking to die?”
Bai Li Ruofeng’s eyes turned cold, “No, Xiao Yao Zi Zai isn’t an idiot. He wouldn’t do something that would bring him to his death. Be careful, even Fang Ge Que has lost to that bastard. He’s extremely complicated. The birds behind Xiao Yao Zi Zai have been constantly flying away. I don’t even have to think and I know that there’s an ambush there. From the looks of it, there are probably at least 10,000 of them!”
Quick Thunder Swift Wind smiled, “Actually, [Zhan Long] only has around 17,000 players total. Based on my information, [Zhan Long]’s big divisions are all on the western front. The ambush here is probably just the main guild, which is less than 10,000. This time, we brought a 27,000 man army. Killing [Zhan Long] will be a piece of cake!”
Bai Li Ruofeng smiled, “So it was like that. Then let’s just change our route a little. Let’s make our target [Zhan Long], and lock onto the Red Cloud Forest. Assemble 200 yards ahead. Begin to advance. Also, tell [Emperor’s Blood]. Have them attack from the back of the Red Cloud Forest. We’ll have a front and back pincer attack. Let’s make [Zhan Long] suffer!”
“Alright!”
……
I couldn’t resist anymore and sent a message to Jian Feng Han, “[House of Prestige] is going to attack [Zhan Long]. If [Vanguard] doesn’t start moving now, then when will they ever move? Exactly how many people did you bring?”
Jian Feng Han immediately responded, “We brought all of our troops, 40,000 people. Is that enough?”
I was slightly shocked, “Enough. We’ll attack together with a North and South pincer!”
“Exactly what I was thinking of. I’ll give out the command now!”
“Alright!”
……
The sound of an explosion suddenly burst out from the distance. I don’t know which Musketeer shot, but smoke started to waft up from the trees. Right after that, an enormous group of [Vanguard] players suddenly burst out of the forest. The countless players covered the entire map!
I was right that Jian Feng Han would attack [House of Prestige] but I didn’t think that they would be this brutal, and stake it all in one throw!*