Chapter 1401: Tenacious and Unyielding
The clouds steadily grew thicker and darker. Lightning kept striking against the ground and setting some poor, wilted forest on fire. I even saw a couple of hurricanes slowly moving in the direction of Crossroads Valley. This apocalyptic scene immediately reminded me of the Purgatory Sovereign, Coldblade the Infinite Storm. He was the most cunning Divine Rank boss of the Nine Purgatory Sovereigns, and he was finally going to show us his power.
……
"Watch out, big bro!"
Beiming Xue pointed to the front and said, "I see two high-level mobs flying our way!"
"Got it!"
I focused my gaze and saw two birds with a huge body, a pair of blood-red eyes and iron wings flying our way. Actually, calling them birds would be a mistake. At full wingspan, they were at least 5 meters long and almost as big as the Crimson and Snow Crystal Dragons. In Chinese legends, we called giant birds like this rocs. They were both Level 305 fiend-rank mobs, and since their feathers were made from iron, their Defense was bound to be super high. Normally, they would be the kings of the sky, but not when we were their opponents!
"Let’s go!"
I abruptly unsheathed my sword and flew straight toward the rocs. Before I even got close, I caught both of them with Burning Blade Slash and Myriad Swords Obliteration. He Yi surrounded herself in gusts of stormy energy before unleashing Storm Slash that caught both birds as well. As for Lin Yixin, she didn’t try to fight the mobs at melee range probably because she was carrying Lian Xin. She simply pointed her palm at the mobs and fired Ice Storm. The skill struck three times and killed both mobs, causing them to fall toward the ground. The rocs dropped two Phantasmal Magic Stones, but none of us bothered to pick them up.
"We need to go. These Ironwing Birds are only going to keep growing in numbers…" I said.
Both dragon knights nodded and fell into a dive with me.
Crossroads Valley was right ahead of us. It was surrounded by mountain ranges from all sides, but there was a crossroad at the center leading toward the south, north, east and west entrances. Obviously, this was why it was called Crossroads Valley. The valley was a key strategic location to the human faction, and a basic fortress had been constructed to hold it. However, it was constructed mostly from stone and spikes, which was nowhere enough to withstand Coldblade’s army. We would have to rely on our own strength to hold the valley.
One good thing about the fortress was that it was immensely huge. The ramparts were filled with players, and the interface indicated that there were 9,547,867 players in Crossroads Valley right now, or almost 10 million players. The situation was still critically grave, however. It was because the counter for the undead legion showed 40 million and rising. This was going to be a most difficult battle.
"Going down!"
I spurred the Ancient Divine Dragon into a dive toward the eastern walls. It was because it was covered in a sea of red, the flag of our country. I also spotted Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi patrolling the nearby sky on their dragons. I moved straight toward them.
……
"Something is flying toward us! Raise your bows!"
Laughing At The Heavens barked out an order, and a group of Warsky Alliance archers raised their longbows in unison.
Gui Guzi yelled at him, "Do you want to die, Laughing At The Heavens? They’re one of us!"
Warsky narrowed his eyes before saying, "It is Lu Chen and Beautiful Little Pepper. Lower your bows!"
"Roar roar…"
The Ancient Divine Dragon let out a bright and resounding cry before landing on the rampart. I leaped off of its back, and Beiming Xue did the same. Obviously, the guys’ attention was fully on Beiming Xue’s alluring legs as she descended toward the ground.
I exclaimed in surprise when I saw Laughing At The Heavens, "Eh? I thought you were swallowed by Skullblood?"
Laughing At The Heavens’ facial muscles twitched. "Y-yes, and I ran back over. W-what? Is that a crime?"
I gave him a thumbs-up. "Not at all. I admire people of tenacious and unyielding spirit like you…"
October Rain commented, "Pooh. You say that, but your tone sure doesn’t sound like praise!"
I simply smiled and said nothing.
While He Yi and Lin Yixin descended behind me, Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits and more Dragonlight Cavalry were galloping over to reinforce us. Clearly, they were worried that a fight might break out between us and Warsky Alliance. This was a game after all, all I needed was to give the order, and we would be doing Coldblade’s job before even made his move. The last one to live would be the Heavenly King of Heavenblessed…
……
I looked at the sky and saw countless Ironwing Birds slowly approaching us. On the ground, just as many Corpse Eaters were crawling out of the forest, the caves, even the gap between the rocks. It was impossible to say how many there were, only that they were all responding to Coldblade’s summons, and they were all coming to destroy this fortress.
I asked, "Which wave is this?"
Gui Guzi answered, "The first wave hasn’t begun yet!"
I grimaced. "Warsky, Momo, Candlelight Shadow, what are your plans to defeat these 7 waves of monsters?"
Warsky shrugged. "Hugging the fortifications and defending to the last. If necessary, the Gold Cavalry will ride out and lessen the pressure for the defenders."
Stranger of Three Lifetimes gave an outrageous answer. "You want to put me through the wave 7 times?? That’s too much!" [1]
Candlelight Shadow answered the question with a question of his own, "How is Ancient Sword planning to fight this out?"
I unsheathed the Chill of the Nine Provinces and pointed toward the ground. "I’m going to dispatch 20000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen to form a protective wall on the ground. The priests will heal, and the archers and mages will dish out damage from the walls. This is the best way to prevent the mobs from approaching the city, and to reap contribution points. You may have noticed, but there are tons of NPC arrow towers catapults in the fortress. You don’t want the NPCs to take away all your points, do you?"
Luo River God of the Capital smiled. "I support Lu Chen’s plan. It’ll also give us some initiative in this defensive battle."
He Yi nodded. "Very well. Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, choose 20000 of our best Dragonlight Cavalrymen and have them form a protective wall on the ground. Their job will be to hold their ground and prevent the mobs from reaching the fortress. Ensure that the mage, priest and archer parties on the walls will be the strongest we have as well. The bards will provide max buffs to as many Dragonlight Cavalry as possible, if not all of them. The Corpse Eaters on the hills are already showing signs of restlessness, so they may attack at any moment. Finish the preparations as quickly as possible and get ready for tower defense!"
……
I leaped off the wall to join the Dragonlight Cavalry. The wall was only 10 meters tall, so the HP loss was a mosquito’s bite at worst. High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and more also emulated my example. After that, our key generals applied their Famous General Skills to their parties. The most notable among them was of course our white-robed tactician, Lu Buyi. The guy got to enjoy a personal entourage of 5 magic knights including his girlfriend, and his 4000-man party would have their stats boosted by 150% as long as he remained alive. On a related note, Lu Buyi ascended to become a Divine General half a month ago. The active effect of his Divine General Skill, Nature’s Body, was so trash it wasn’t even worth describing, but the very fact he became a Divine General doubled the number of players he could command, and that was more than enough to make up for his Divine General Skill’s flaws.
The fortress gate opened, and 20000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen stepped out into the open. Lu Buyi, Gui Guzi, He Yi, Lian Xin and Chaos Moon were chosen to command 4000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen each. On a related note, Lian Xin stole Lu Buyi’s Purple Dragon but could only boost everyone’s stats by 100% because she didn’t have the Hidden Dragon Fan. As for me, I partied 4000 Holy Mages so that their Magic Attack would be boosted by 200%. They also enjoyed the King of Cities buff and the War Holy Temple’s buff. Long story short, their magic damage was going to wow both enemies and allies alike! [2]
Maybe it was because of my earlier advice, but Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance, Snowy Cathaya, Blazing Hot Lips all did the same thing. Soon, the ground was overflowing with elite cavalrymen, and the walls with healers and damage dealers. Now, all we needed to do was to wait for the enemy to attack us.
……
Thud!
A pair of silver boots landed on the base of a watchtower and kicked up some tiny bits of stones. It was Karinshan in her royal battle armor. She frowned at the distant dark clouds and said, "This war is happening sooner than I expected…"
Beside her, an equally battle ready Queen Sophia said with a grim expression, "The Purgatory Ruler must have thought that the time was right. At any rate, the living and the dead were always going to clash against one another. Karinshan, have you ever wondered what we should do if we lose this war? Where will the future of the humans, succubi, elves and dwarves lie?"
Karinshan placed a hand on her sword hilt and said, "We have far outlived our expected lifespan not because the devils had mercy on us, but because we fought tooth and nail to come this far. If we were to lose this war, I were to die in battle, and the undead were to infest the continent, I would still have no regrets because I know that I have given it my all. I can go to the afterlife and face my ancestors and all that was living with a clear conscience."
Sophia smirked. "There’s no need to be that pessimistic. A powerful ally will be arriving to assist us very soon. I promise you that we won’t lose."
Karinshan shivered. "You’re talking about Sophie’s legion at Purple Grape City?"
"Correct."
Sophia nodded. "Two hours ago, Lady Wind Singer had personally traveled to Purple Grape City to recruit Lady Sophie’s aid. They are both godlike legends of the Purgatory, and I’m certain they can defeat Lin Na himself if they unite as one!"
"Let’s hope so…"
Karinshan looked like she wanted to say something, but ultimately chose to keep her silence.
……
The dark clouds rolled, and lightning struck. The restless monsters finally made their move.
"Hiss hiss…"
The Corpse Eater Legion let out a ghastly cry before breaking into a sudden run and swarming the fortress from all sides. They were all Level 305 fiend-rank mobs, and they had incredibly high Attack. It was up to us to ensure that the fortress survived.
Chiang!
I unsheathed the Chill of the Nine Provinces and shouted, "Prepare to receive the enemy’s charge, and do not give even an inch of ground to them! Also, all units are to use Guard when the first wave hits! Don’t blame your priests if you die because you were too confident in your tanking ability!"
Everyone unsheathed their weapons with clear excitement and passion in their eyes.
1. T/N: In the raw Momo is talking about boobs, so I drop a sexual slang here as a replacement. Don’t get it, google ☜
2. T/N: just pretend that one buff somehow works BEYOND Sky City’s borders, and the other hasn’t expired a million years ago ☜
This content is taken from fr(e)ewebn(o)vel.𝓬𝓸𝓶