âWhatâs wrong?!â
I furrowed my brow and noticed that Ye Lai had brought around 4000 players from [Judgement] out of the forest. Behind them, there was a large group of players from [Heroâs Mound] pursuing them. I did not see Q-Sword among them, but there definitely was over 5000 people there. Their numbers were almost on par with [Judgement]âs. However, with the addition of [Knights Templar] and [Fantasy Kingdom]âs 5000 players, [Judgement] had to retreat.
[Judgement]âs Vice Guild Master Babel Buddha was running towards us and he shouted, âGuild Master, take some people with you and retreat! Iâll take the rear!â
Ye Lai swung his battle axe over his shoulder and laughed, âTake the rear? Just run! Thereâs no need to get tangled with those Fan Shu City players. Retreat with the main formation of [Zhan Long]. Where they go, we go. As long as we protect that NPC Chi Yu Han, weâll be in the clear. After all, this is just a city-level quest!â
â¦â¦
I pulled out my Dragon Reservoir Sword and took Li Mu, Wang Jian and the rest to charge forward. We took the rear and threatened [Heroâs Mound] players as we covered for [Judgement]âs retreat, fighting alongside Ye Lai and Babel Buddha. We began to converseââ
I said, âYe Lai, what brought you to this state? Werenât you supposed to have met up with Yan Zhao Warrior? How could you guys have lost so miserably?â
Ye Lai didnât immediately reply and just smiled ruefully, âQ-Sword, that bastard, is more calculating than I am. They took advantage of the hills in Bowl Valley to deal two full-on attacks on us. We lost quite a few just from those. Furthermore, the forest was filled with hidden Death God Arrows and we lost another 7000 players to those. On the bright side, we had already cut down around 8000 of their Death God Arrow Machines, so [Heroâs Mound] didnât gain too much from that victory. Yan Zhao Warrior also lost quite a bit. He retreated with only 9000 players. He still wants to maintain his neutral status and left after killing off 80% of [Heroâs Mound]âs troops.â
I smiled, âThat means that [Heroâs Mound] suffered quite a blow this time. Just how many were killed on both sides?â
Ye Laiâs tone deepened, âIf we were only talking about [Heroâs Mound], [Prague] and [Judgement], then it was a loss of around 1:2. For every [Heroâs Mound] player that was killed, we lost two of our own. Later on, when [Knights Templar], [Fantasy Kingdom], as well as 9 other Fan Shu City guilds joined the battle, the tables turned and for every player that we lost, they lost two more!â
As he finished talking, Ye Lai looked up at me and asked, âXiao Yao, whatâs your plan after this? You saw how I brought all of my brothers over here and bet their lives on your side. Donât tell me that you have no more plans to use. If so, then Iâm not letting you off easily!â
I laughed, âDonât worry; I still have plans! Weâre going straight towards the Grave of the Warring States! [Zhan Long]âs guild fort has already risen into a Lv 2 city and the walls surrounding it are made of stone that are around 5 meters high. Furthermore, there are watch towers that are each at least 10 meters tall, giving us the advantage in the sky. On top of that, there are blacksmiths inside the fort to fix our equipment. This way, weâll count on Dragonâs Den, this simple city, to defend us. Holding off for 8 hours shouldnât be too big of a problem.ân/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
Ye Lai nodded, âAlright, then weâll do that for our next step. Letâs go!â
âYes!â
â¦â¦
Our team of 15,000 people headed straight towards [Zhan Long]âs territory. Along the way, a few of Ba Huang Cityâs medium and small guilds tried to block our way, but they were all crushed by us. They had underestimated the strength of our 15,000 men.
Ye Lai and Misty Clouds, as always, saw each other as enemies. However, for the sake of their mutual ally, [Zhan Long], they managed to work together, which was a pretty good thing in the end.
Not long after, we made it out of the forest. In the distance, we could make out the shape of the city walls. Our Dragonâs Den looked almost like a stone fort, which looked pretty simple and crude. However, the city was relatively large. Fitting 15,000 people in wasnât going to be a problem.
Wan Er raised her dagger and pointed towards the city and shouted, âOpen the gates!â
On top of the city, a few of the NPCâs recognized this Vice Guild Master and immediately lowered the iron gate. All of us rushed into the city. I glanced at Li Mu and said, âLi Mu, take 500 of the heavy armor players and go repair your equipment. Afterwards, weâre going to lay out a defense formation in front of the city gates!â
Li Mu nodded, âUnderstood!â
Wan Er glanced at the structure of the city and then said in the guild chat, âArchers, go up to the watch towers and prepare your long range skills. Mages and Musketeers, head up onto the city walls, with Knights to protect you. All Healers are to remain within the city to heal other people. Start building the formations immediately! We need to prepare for [Heroâs Mound]âs ambush!â
Immediately, a group of Archers climbed up the watch towers. There were 40 towers scattered throughout the city. Every tower could hold 10-15 Archers, with enough space for all of them to attack at once. A 10-meter tall watchtower increased an Archerâs attack power and attack speed by 25% and their range by 50%. This was a good opportunity for us to increase the pressure on the enemy.
More importantly, at this stage in the game, fort wars had yet to begin. Even though our crude fort didnât look like much, it was enough to give [Heroâs Mound] some trouble to deal with.
â¦â¦
I walked into the city with my sword in hand and went to the NPC blacksmith to fix up all of my equipment. My Cold Iron Sword only had around 2% durability left. It would have broken the sword if I had cut down one more person. Li Mu, Wang Jian, and Ye Lai all came in to fix their equipment. Afterwards, I took them, Misty Cloud and Han Bei Song to climb the western wall. It was around 5 meters high and 3 meters thick. Even the arrow-slits were very simple. We didnât even have a place to throw boulders from. All we could do was use our ranged players to deal attacks.
Ye Lai squinted at our surroundings and said, âThe very first player fort in the China ServerââDragonâs Den. It doesnât look bad at all. The positioning is most likely one of the best in Ba Huang City. However, itâs not that reliable for defense. There isnât anything in the surrounding that could help deter the enemy. If there was some kind of moat to surround the city, or a cliff, then weâd take 50% less damage. That would be much betterâ¦â
I couldnât help but smile, âThat wasnât up to us, alright? If it were up to me, then I definitely wouldâve built the fort in front of some cliff or on a mountain and only allow the enemy a small portion of the wall and the gate. I would then fill the walls with Archers and Musketeers. That way, weâd be able to defend against 4 times our numbers. Unfortunately, the game is set that we cannot choose.â
Han Bei Song nodded with a smile, âActually, this fort is pretty well-built. You donât have to ask for more from itâ¦â
Misty Clouds squinted into the distance and said, â[Heroâs Mound] is here!â
â¦â¦
Just as he said, a large group of people charged out of the thick forest. It looked like there were around 2000 people with them. Most of them were from [Heroâs Mound: Division Two]. The Guild Master, Ai Ye, led the charge all the way to the bottom of the gate. When they were around 100 yards away from us, he pointed straight at the wall and shouted, âXiao Yao Zi Zai, if youâre a man, then come out and fight with me!â
I looked at Chi Yu Han and Chi Yu Qing who were within the city and smiled, âIâm in the middle of a quest to save Chi Yu Han. If Chi Yu Han lives for another 8 hours, then the quest will be complete. What point is there to fight to the death with you? Besides, what makes you think you can take me on?â
Ai Yeâs face turned bright red and roared, âXiao Yao Zi Zai, you arrogant son of a b*tch. If you have guts, then get the f*ck down here and fight me!â
I raised my hand and pulled out my sword with a âKeng!â and smiled, âThen if weâre talking about guts, why donât we do this the old way? If I come out, then you, Ai Ye, must come closer 50 yards. Letâs have a one on one; do you dare?â
Ai Ye gritted his teeth. Beside him, his Vice Guild Master whispered, âAre you really going to fight one on one with Xiao Yao Zi Zai? Forgive me if Iâm blunt, but even if there were ten of you, you wouldnât be able to fight himâ¦â
âAs if I needed to be told that!â Ai Ye gritted his teeth and shouted, âXiao Yao Zi Zai, if you want to cower behind your walls, then you keep doing that. I want to see how youâre going to last the next 8 hours with just ten thousand people.â
â¦â¦
Very soon, the number of players surrounding Dragonâs Den began to increase rapidly. The ten thousand players left from [House of Prestige] came as well. Even worse, Q-word, Jian Tan and Sword Tears all appeared on the western front. [Heroâs Mound]âs strength began to consolidate more and more. The number of players that were after Chi Yu Han and Chi Yu Qing were just too many and every one of them wanted a piece of the prize.
Misty Clouds furrowed his brow and said, âWhatâs up with this? Thereâs more and more people. Why donât we take this chance and charge out of this place? Orâ¦?â
âDonât!â Ye Lai smiled, âTo be honest, I want to experience what a defensive war on a fort is like!â
I said, âYup, letâs just wait for them to attack! At the moment, Dragonâs Den is unrivaled and they have no idea how to break through its defense. Unless they have some kind of war machine designed for a siege, thereâs no way they can break in. We just have to defend ourselves in this city. If we run out of potions, bullets or arrows, we can just go straight back into the city to replenish our supplies. Iâve already set the prices of all of the stalls to 0, so everyone can use everything for free!â
â¦â¦
After waiting for another half hour, the players on the outside couldnât wait any longer.
âKeng!â
Q-Sword pulled out his blade, pointed straight at the city and said, âEven though we donât have any ladders or other siege machines, that fort is only made up of a pile of rocks. Just grab onto the crevices and climb your way up. Everyone, begin to attack! Charge up to the city! Letâs crush everyone in [Zhan Long], capture Chi Yu Han and Chi Yu Qing and go back to Ba Huang City to claim our prize!â
The sounds of battle resounded throughout the field. Once [Heroâs Mound] launched their attack, [Vanguard], [House of Prestige], [Flying Dragon] and [Wrath of the Heroes] all followed en masse.
Wan Er stretched out her pale neck and looked up at the wall. âArchers, prepare your AOE attacks and kill them by the droves! Mages, use [Magma Abyss] on them!â
All ranged attacks from the city wall had a 30% ranged advantage. They locked their skills onto the other side of the wall, and threw their area attacks. Screams of agony filled the air and Ba Huang Cityâs number one player siege battle began!