Chapter 524 – Fake News
「Are you alright?」Nie Yan anxiously asked.
「Yeah, I got out alive. My Netherthunder Eagle suffered serious injuries though,」Tang Yao replied. Only after confirming the Shadow Priest hadn’t chased after him did he breath a sigh of relief.
Nie Yan knitted his brows. He didn’t expect Alliance of Mages to have a Wind Serpent on their side.
「I feel like that Shadow Priest isn’t with Alliance of Mages. They didn’t even seem to belong on the same side. If they coordinated together, I probably wouldn’t have made it out alive,」Tang Yao said, recalling the previous battle.
「I see. Well, even if they aren’t together, that Shadow Priest is definitely an enemy.」
The battle over on Bladelight’s side had also come to an end. Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and 60 elite members had broken out of the encirclement. Asskickers United had suffered 1,200 casualties while Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors had over 5,000 casualties. Some people had even died two or three times.
Looking at the casualties on both sides, Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors hadn’t gained anything out of this ambush. It was a wash.
Conflicts between guilds often turned into battles of attrition. Whoever caved first was the loser.
Even though the players from Asskickers United had dropped a lot of equipment, these losses were nothing for a rich tycoon like Nie Yan.
Nie Yan was still annoyed, though. Asskickers United had only kept to themselves during this time because earning contribution was their highest priority. Needless to say, starting a conflict would only prove detrimental to their goal. At the same time, Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors were lagging far behind them in terms of contribution acquisition. Had Crazy Magic not taken any action and things continued on at this rate, all the best properties in the Hilton Stronghold would’ve been gobbled up by Asskickers United.
Although Asskickers United’s players had raised their vigilance, they still ended up suffering Alliance of Mage’s ambush. All their countermeasures meant nothing.
However, this kind of loss was only skin deep for Asskickers United. The 1,200 that dropped a level would be able to recover it in no time. As for the lost equipment, what Asskickers United didn’t lack the most was money!
Asskickers United’s players all returned to the Hilton Stronghold to recuperate. Nie Yan thought for a moment. Since the battle had ended, he might as well go back too.
At this moment, Nie Yan received a call from Guo Huai.
「Nie Yan, check the forums.」
Nie Yan opened up the forums. He quickly found the post Guo Huai mentioned: “Defeat of Asskickers United.” Inside were numerous videos showing Asskickers United’s forces surrounded and routed. The scenes of Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors suffering heavy losses were edited out. These videos immediately gained a lot of traction and skyrocketed to the top of the boards.
「Asskickers United was defeated?」
「Why isn’t there any information on Asskickers United’s side?」
「I heard Asskickers United returned to the Hilton Stronghold beaten black and blue. Right now, they’re recovering in their villa.」
「Wow, this is the first time Asskickers United has been defeated!」
The clueless ate it all up. Some Asskickers United players tried to respond to explain the situation. However, their comments were mysteriously buried to oblivion. These several hundred videos occupied the front page of the Viridian Empire boards.
Nie Yan snickered. Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors were too childish, resorting to such petty tricks.
「What do we do? We can’t let things continue on like this,」Guo Huai said. The longer these videos stayed in the limelight, the more it would impact the morale of the guild.
「I’ll post a response,」Nie Yan chuckled. He made a new post on the forums.
「What are you writing? I’ll find people to upvote your post,」Guo Huai said. He immediately got in touch with the players below him.
When Nie Yan’s post went live, Guo Huai checked the forums.「Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors, do you have the balls to publicize the casualties on both sides?」
It was merely a single line response. Nie Yan’s tone was quite brash too. However, Guo Huai was already used to it. He smiled to himself. Sometimes, a few simple words was the best way to solve a problem. He started looking for people to upvote Nie Yan’s post.
The first to bump the post were Tang Yao, Bladelight, Smoke Stub, then Undying Scoundrel, Natural Fiend, and the others. Before long, the post had received more than 60 upvotes.
Seeing Nie Yan’s post, many players grew curious and clicked it. When they discovered the poster was Nirvana Flame, they immediately became starstruck.
「I’m admiring a god close-up!」
「First!」
…
Players were constantly replying to the post. Some replies had meaningful discussions while others contributed very little. In the blink of an eye, the post rose to the top of the forums.
Seeing Nie Yan’s words, players started growing suspicious. Was there something fishy about these videos? They couldn’t help but become curious about the casualties of the battle between Asskickers United and Alliance of Mages. Was it like what the videos described, with Asskickers United being completely crushed? Before long, interest in the casualties far surpassed that of the videos.
Crazy Magic sat in a church in the Hilton Stronghold. He was monitoring the forums. The idea of the edited videos was planned by his subordinates. Even though it was a bit clumsy, it still had some effect. Seeing Nie Yan’s post, he coldly snorted. This was a masterful riposte. The attention of the players immediately shifted to the casualties on both sides. This was what they didn’t want to reveal the most.
Before long, someone obtained the results of the battle. Asskickers United had suffered 1,200 casualties while Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors had suffered over 5,000.
Players were left speechless. With these kind of numbers, Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors still had the face to claim they won?
Asskickers United’s combat strength was too frightening! On average, each of their players could take on five top ranked players from Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors! If a player encountered five equal level enemies, or even several levels lower opponents, even if their equipment was good, they would still die. Only classes like Thieves and Paladins stood a chance of escaping with their lives. However, winning generally wasn’t possible. Among players, those who could win one versus three were already few and far between. Those who could win one against ten thousand simply didn’t exist. If a player really suffered an ambush from 10,000 players, not even a trace of their corpse would remain.
Take for example the top elites of Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors. These players managed to rise to the top of the ranks among hundreds of thousands of others, earning themselves the status of elites. They were all extremely skilled. Yet Asskickers United’s players had completely crushed them. This difference was simply too great. It left people speechless.
A commotion erupted in the forums. Even though Asskickers United had returned to the Hilton Stronghold beaten and bruised, no one said anything any longer.
Nie Yan and Xie Yao returned to the Hilton Stronghold and turned in their demon subjugation quests. Nie Yan rose to level 96 while Xie Yao rose to Level 85. Their levelling speed was astonishing. Besides this, Xie Yao headed to the administrative hall and bought a property. This property was located next to Nie Yan’s villa. It was quite large and could accommodate a Tier 16 shop. Such a property could be said to be priceless. Every extra property snagged by them signified another huge source of income in the future.
Nie Yan discovered that there were less and less properties for sale. Two of the prime real estate properties he had been eyeing had already been purchased by others. He had no idea who the buyer was. They were quite quick. It appeared he would have to hurry up. The properties in the Hilton Stronghold were limited. Once they were all taken, there would be no more.
The two arrived at Nie Yan’s villa in the Hilton Stronghold. Inside, the players from Asskickers United were gathered in groups of two and three.
Seeing Nie Yan walk in, they all greeted him.
“Boss!”
“Boss, you’re here!”
Nie Yan gazed at these brothers from Asskickers United. Some of them had lost one or two pieces of equipment. Many had died once or twice. However, there wasn’t the slightest bit of dejection on their faces. Even though they had been ambushed, they hadn’t come out worse for wear.
As Nie Yan walked through the villa, he heard the chatter of several players.
“I managed to kill seven of those bastards from Alliance of Mages. I lost a piece of equipment, but it was totally worth it!”
“I only managed to kill five. Look, the boss is here!”
The players all stepped aside to let Nie Yan pass.
Nie Yan, Xie Yao, Bladelight, and a few others gathered together. There were quite a few people in the villa.
“Where are the others?” Nie Yan asked. There were only around 200 people here.
“They went to restock on consumables.”
Nie Yan checked the guild treasury. He then turned to Paladin of the Elegy, who was in charge of managing various affairs. “Have Guo Huai send some equipment over. Everyone that lost equipment will be compensated. Besides that, also reward everyone with 50 gold for each kill they got on the enemy.”
50 gold was not a small sum. Some players who had killed quite a bit would receive more than 1,000 gold. Asskickers United’s players had killed 5,000 enemies in total. That roughly amounted to 250,000 gold. Other guilds wouldn’t dare to fork out so much gold. However, for Nie Yan, 250,000 gold didn’t amount to much. With gold, those players who exerted themselves for the guild could improve their gear all around. This was definitely worth it.
Nie Yan finished arranging one matter after another.
“Boss, what are we going to do? Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors have taken action against us first. Are we going to keep turtling? If a tiger doesn’t show its might, people will start thinking we’re scared cats,” Undying Scoundrel said.
“Yeah! Boss, we can’t let this stand!”
Many others voiced their agreement with Undying Scoundrel.