Whoosh!

Floating Ice City, I hadn’t been here in a long time. It was as tranquil and peaceful as ever. Mounted troops thundered past the plaza and new players were still setting up vendor stalls and buying items, just like in the past.

I summoned the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf and sprinted straight for the main hall of the palace.

As I dashed up the city’s main road under the watchful eyes of the soldiers stationed there, I made a beeline towards the hall, unimpeded. I was rather surprised that no one moved to stop me. I’ve become quite famous in Floating Ice City, huh.

A bunch of officers stood in two lines beside the dais which rose high above the floor. Princess Karinshan was clad in a full suit of exquisite silver armor. Her hand rested on the handle of her sword as she stood on the dais and listened to her officer’s reports.

……

“Eh? Why did you come all the way here?”

Astonishingly enough, the general that seemed to be in charge of everyone was a beautiful young girl and it just so happened to be the Green Dragon Knight Tia. She wore a cheery grin on her face as she walked toward me.

I replied, “We’re in big trouble now!”

“Oh?” Even Karinshan was shocked by my outburst. She walked through the crowd, her beautiful eyes filled with shock as she looked at me. She said, “What exactly is going on here?”

I cut to the chase, “The rulers of Sky City have betrayed the Silver Moon Alliance. They activated the Purgatory Dragon Scepter to construct a spatial bridge to Hell. Now, a Sovereign of Hell, Coldblade, is leading an army of ten million Night Creatures across to the spatial bridge into Sky City. The city has officially fallen into the hands of the enemy…”

“What?!” Karinshan exclaimed as she looked at me, her eyes wide with disbelief. Her mouth twitched before her eyes grew fierce, bloodlust surging in them. “How could this happen? What the hell were those royals in Sky City doing? What about the Council of Elders? Didn’t they make a single objection to this lunacy? The moment Sky City falls, the entire continent will be exposed to the predation of the Night Creatures. The Silver Moon Alliance is in danger!”

I said, “The king of Sky City wants to use Coldblade’s power to conquer the rest of the continent. He has already bent the knee. As for those elders? Pffft. They’re nothing more than kites that flutter in whatever direction the wind takes them. All of them decided to betray the human alliance and become Coldblade’s slaves a long time ago.”

Fury flashed in Karinshan’s beautiful eyes. She couldn’t help but smash her arm against a pillar, leaving the deep imprint of her fist on it. She looked straight at me and said, “The fact that you managed to survive is great news. You’ve come all the way to Floating Ice City to discuss something important with me right?”

I nodded my head. “Yes, the commander of Sky City’s Mad Lion Legion, Jacelyn, has already declared war against the ruling powers of Sky City. Two other generals have joined him in his decision to swear loyalty to you. Right now, I’ve come here as an envoy in hopes that you’ll mobilize Floating Ice City’s armies to attack Sky City and take control of it!”

“That sounds good!”

Karinshan licked her red lips before saying, “Floating Ice City has always been a territory under the jurisdiction of Sky City. But since they no longer possess the mandate of heaven, then as someone who possesses the blood of kings, I need to recover Sky City and uphold the honor and glory of the human nations!”

As she said that, Karinshan whipped her sharp sword out of her scabbard and raised it high in the air. She yelled, “All officers in Floating Ice City, hear my command! Immediately mobilize all of your soldiers and get ready to set off for Sky City. We will kill Coldblade and uphold the honor of the kingdom! Black Cavalry, you will act as the vanguard of our forces! Frost Army, Scarlet Wolf Army, and Dragon Knight Brigade will all follow me into battle!”

A group of officers instantly raised their swords into the air as they shouted, “Your Majesty, we hear and obey!”

……

Okay! After I successfully delivered my letters, my mission immediately refreshed itself.

Ding~!

System Notice: Your quest [Betrayal] has entered its final phase. Return to Sky City and participate in the battle to recover it. Defeat all 10 waves of hell-spawned demons and break into the heart of the city with Karinshan. Defeat Coldblade the Infinite Storm, and execute the traitorous human monarch of Sky City. Deliver his head to Rinser once you have accomplished your task. You will receive generous rewards for accomplishing this mission!

After this, another system notice started ringing in the air above Sky City and Floating Ice City.

Ding~!

System Notice: All players, please be informed that the [Coldblade War] event has officially started. Sky City has already been conquered by Coldblade the Infinite Storm and his hellish army. The ten waves of Coldblade’s army await! All players can participate in the battle and once all ten waves of Night Creatures have been eliminated, the barrier protecting the city will disappear. Enter the city and kill the traitorous king! All players who participate in the [Coldblade War] will receive points as they kill monsters. After the battle has ended, the 100 players with the highest contribution will receive generous rewards that correspond to their ranking!

……

Okay, now the rest would be simple. The players would assault Sky City together with the NPC army and kill the Night Creatures that had crossed over the spatial bridge. Once ten waves had been killed, we’d be allowed to enter the city. It was basically a siege. However, to the players of Sky City, this was nothing less than a feast! The existence of this contribution system meant that everyone would have a chance to raise their levels quickly!

Joy danced in my heart as I gripped the handle of the Heaven-stealing Sword. If I got the MVP prize in this battle, I might very well shoot straight to Level 125. Level 150 was growing closer and closer, and once I hit that level and obtained the ability to ride mounts, my spring would come!

It was also at this moment that the system notice reverberated in the skies throughout the continent, and the news caused all the players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to leap with joy.

System Announcement: Player “Legendary Brave (Sky City)” has successfully defeated the Purple Gold Rank Boss, Shadow Walker, and risen to Level 116. They have also met the criteria to become a Famous General and have become the fourteenth Famous General of China! They have gained Luck +1, Tactics +1, and an exclusive Famous General Skill “Blitz”!

Blitz: Increase the attack speed of your party members by 40%, and their movement speed by 20%.

……

Damn, the Dragon Warrior Li Chengfeng had finally become a Famous General! He even got a skill that boosted attack speed by over 40% and movement speed by over 20%!

Tsk tsk, what a ridiculous Famous General Skill! As long as your attack was high enough to break an opponent’s Defense, this attack speed boost was simply absurd! Furthemore, given Li Chengfeng’s current Tactics, he could probably boost his attack speed by 100%, so he would be able to trade two blows for one consistently. This was basically a free critical hit every round! Given Li Chengfeng’s superlative skill, these extra attacks would boost his combat power out of the stratosphere!

The guild channel was in a complete uproar.

Xu Yang: “Hahaha, Li Chengfeng, you punk, you’ve finally become a Famous General! Congrats!”

Li Chengfeng laughed out loud: “Mn, thank you, thank you!”

Gui Guzi said: “We should gather all the high attack speed players in our guild and form a squad around Li Chengfeng. If we have a bunch of super high-speed attackers leading the line, we will be able to cut through the enemy lines like a hot knife through butter! No Holy Shield or Guard will be able to withstand waves of consecutive attacks!”

Chaos Moon: “Please party with me…”

Li Chengfeng: “Why aren’t you asking me for a date…”

Chaos Moon: “The only one who can get me to ask them out on a date in this guild is Lu Chen. Who the hell do you think you are…”

Li Chengfeng: “And the tears come streaming down my face…”

He Yi let out a soft laugh: “Alright, alright, that’s enough. Let’s leave the romance talk for later. Right now, all of us need to gather in Dark Moon City. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Bloody Mercenaries, you are to each form your own formations when participating in the Coldblade War. I want to keep casualties to a minimum and push our chances to earn rewards and experience to a maximum.”

I nodded my head: “Mn, our guild leader is right. The monsters we’ll fight in this Coldblade War will be extremely high-level. Our newer and weaker players definitely won’t be able to hold the line during the monsters’ charge. As a result, the players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls must group in a formation that is at least ten thousand strong. Then, we will still be able to continue battling even if we get surrounded.”

Li Chengfeng laughed and said, “Listen to the two guild leaders and assemble five kilometers outside the city, everyone. Prepare yourselves for the long siege ahead. This will be an extremely difficult battle that will last at least ten hours. The core attackers of the guild, please do everything you need to do before the battle starts. Whoever needs to eat, drink water or go to the toilet, get it done and come back quickly because we are setting off in twenty minutes!”

Xu Yang: “Damnit, you just said everything that I wanted to say…”

Li Chengfeng: “...”

……

After a long period of tempering, Li Chengfeng’s leadership qualities were starting to shine through. This was a good thing. The current Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had too many soldiers and too few generals. The main guild had ten thousand people and Bloody Mercenaries had five thousand, and every single one of these players was an elite in their own right. They were the solid foundation upon which the future of our guild would be built upon.

I teleported back to Dark Moon City. The entire city was bustling with life. Many of the players in Sky City had managed to teleport themselves to Dark Moon City before Sky City had fallen into Coldblade’s hands. There were also quite a few people who went to other places. Of course, most of the players had fled Sky City on foot.

However, a vast amount of players had already flocked back to Sky City by this point. Everyone was rubbing their hands in anticipation for the event to start. They couldn’t wait to throw themselves into battle against the ten waves of Coldblade’s army.

I was left rather dumbfounded by this response. These people had probably only come here because they saw that this battle would be giving battle point rewards. Did they really think those ten waves of Night Creatures would be so easy to defeat? I had seen the hellish army that Coldblade had summoned, and it made me feel as if the end of days was approaching.

These ten waves of monsters definitely wouldn’t be easy to deal with. Sky City had nearly one hundred million players. But these hundred million players might not be able to withstand the onslaught of these creatures even if we all showed up for this event.

What’s more, the players who died during this battle wouldn’t be able to revive until the event was over, and many players had been torn apart by Ghouls the instant they came online. Therefore, the situation was actually quite grim for us players.

……

The fields five kilometers outside Dark Moon City were packed with people. The emblem of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls blazed across the entire area and the most eye-catching group of players was the Fireblade Cavalry led by Gui Guzi. Even though it was only forty riders strong, they blazed brightly like fireflies on a pitch-black night. They looked fierce and fresh as they rode on their Fireblade Warhorses, which let out neighing sounds as they reared high into the air. The entire unit looked ready to charge at the enemy at moment’s notice.

“Lu Chen’s here!”

Chaos Moon came to greet me as she said, “Do you have any plans of attack in regards to the upcoming Coldblade War?”

I shook my head. “No actually. Just kill as many monsters as we can and collect battle points. These sorts of opportunities are hard to come by!”

“Mn.” Chaos Moon nodded her head sincerely before replying, “I’ll take advantage of this battle to hit Level 120. I want to hit my fifth class promotion! I want to become a super expert…”

I rolled my eyes at her and said, “Easy does it! You’ve still got a lot of work to do to get there!”

“Wuuuuu…”

……

We soon finished gathering up into formation and He Yi sat on her snow-colored warhorse as she galloped to the front of the assembled players. She struck a heroic figure as her red battlerobe fluttered in the air. She raised Whirlwind in the air and smiled as she said, “Forward! To Sky City!”