Thunk, thunk...

A battle axe cleaved through a magic knight’s breastplate as his spear skewered the player who had hit him. Both corpses toppled from their mounts and fell into the blood pooling beneath their feet.

A ray of morning light peeked out from the eastern horizon, illuminating the savage battlefield.

The scent of fresh blood was thick in the air and some of our players started to retch and gag at the smell of it. A tattered banner was swaying in the wind as it peeked out of the corpse-filled forest. It was full of tears and holes made from swords and spears and the bannerman holding it had already been killed. Both man and mount had been transfixed to the wall in a savage display of violence.

When guilds warred against one another, every guild would bring a banner to battle. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls also had a banner, and it was currently wedged into the barding covering the back of Gui Guzi’s warhorse. It wobbled unsteadily in the air as Gui Guzi urged his mount forward.

……

Shunk!

Sparks flew out from Candlelight Shadow’s blade as he shoved it into the ground. He reached out and pulled Candle Dragon’s banner from the ground before raising it high in the air and yelling, "We can’t hold the defensive line anymore! Everyone, it’s time to fall back to Immortality City’s second line of defense! We’ll rebuild our defensive formation at the small stone fortification and use it to blunt the charges of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls’ cavalry unit!"

After he said that, Candlelight Shadow turned around and started running toward the location he had ordered his troops to fall back to.

Tempest Shadow wheeled his warhorse around as he led a large group of Viper Dragoons away from the melee. This long and exhausting battle had finally run its course.

I brandished my sword and yelled, "Do you think I’m gonna let you guys come and go as you please? I’ll have you leave your lives behind!"

As I said that, I spurred my Ice Qilin Horse forward. It gave a long whinny before shooting forward like a bolt of lightning. I sped past the enemy line and stopped right in front of Candlelight Shadow and his men. After I wheeled my horse around to face them, I slashed my sword through the air without saying a single word.

Boom!

Thousand Ice Slash exploded in the midst of the enemy riders, causing a dozen injured magic knights to fall dead to the ground.

Even though the Viper Dragoons had killed more than 70% of the Cyan Tiger Cavalry in their head-on clash, they had suffered over 90% casualties themselves. Furthermore, Stranger of Three Lifetimes was pressing in with Blazing Hot Lips from behind us, while Beiming Xue and Li Chengfeng were prowling along their flanks. Candle Dragon had already lost the will to fight. All they wanted to do right now was to retreat to their second line of defense.

Candlelight Shadow let out a furious roar as he unsheathed his sword and charged forward. His body weaved and bobbed as he used the helix maneuver to weave several "S" shapes across the ground. His sword flickered out faster than the eye could see and hacked down three Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen before anyone could even react. It looked like he had chosen to act as the rearguard for his retreating forces.

Gui Guzi, Heaven’s Rain, and Diamond Dust continued pursuing after the Candle Dragon players with their elite troops. I also urged the Ice Qilin Horse forward, the Cyan Netherworld Sword cutting down any Candle Dragon player unfortunate enough to be caught in its path. The Phantom Wolf King was hunting down Candle Dragon players like a true king of beasts. It soared through the air and rent apart the armor of its hapless victims with its sharp claws.

This hunt was extremely brutal and by the time Candle Dragon’s forces reached the small stone fortification, only 500 of the Viper Dragoons of the originally 13000 strong cavalry remained. It was a miserable sight indeed.

……

The little stone fortification they had huddled up in really did serve as the city’s second line of defense. They used the stone building to form a defensive line but it didn’t really provide a lot of cover and protection. In fact, if the Cyan Tiger Cavalry hadn’t been completely decimated in the earlier fight, they could have flattened this little stone fortification all by themselves.

A moat that was about ten meters wide separated us from the fortification, and it looked like there was a river running through it. On the other side, God’s Dance was surrounded by a huge squad of shield-toting knights as she waved her magic staff in the air. Behind her, countless mages, archers, and priests had assembled into their own class-based formations.

Booom!

God’s Dance slashed her staff down and Galaxy Storm erupted in front of Gui Guzi, He Yi, and I. This stopped us from catching up to the retreating Candlelight Shadow and the last group of stragglers from Candle Dragon.

Candlelight Shadow nodded his head as he rushed across the iron-chained drawbridge with the last group of Candle Dragon players. After that, God’s Dance immediately ordered for the drawbridge to be pulled up, stranding us on the other side of the moat.

Both sides stared at each other in befuddled silence for a few moments before Candlelight Shadow finally spoke.

Candlelight Shadow’s voice was cold and flat as he said, "Lu Chen, your Cyan Tiger Cavalry really did give me a bit of a surprise, but it’s too bad… Your Cyan Tiger Cavalry has been so utterly decimated that you have no chance of beating Candle Dragon!"

I let out a hearty laugh. "Do you think that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls only has cavalrymen!? Hmph, just wait and see! Do you think that we’ll really lose to you in long-range combat? If you have the balls, stay right there, and watch how we jerk the rug out from under your feet!"

"Hmph, you sure know how to talk big!" Tempest Shadow roared. He was the person in Candle Dragon who bore the most hatred and animosity toward me. He has also been the loudest and most aggressive enemy combatant during this battle. The reason for his animosity was really simple. When Candlelight Shadow dispatched him to Floating Ice City to kill me, I completely humiliated him. To make matters worse, not long after I killed him, he was humiliated by the Fruit Knife Goddess. That was one of the greatest humiliations of Tempest Shadow’s life, and he hated the super guilds of Sky City with passion ever since that day.

I couldn’t help but let out a great laugh as I raised the Cyan Netherworld Sword in the air. I let out a loud yell and undead energy swirled around my body as I tossed the Cyan Netherworld Sword forward. It soon turned into a whirling buzzsaw of death, sweeping past the river and the assembled magic knights, spinning straight into a squad of their long-range attackers. Fresh blood spurted in the air as countless archers and mages were cut to ribbons by my Sword Boomerang. No one had expected me to launch such a bold strike and none of them had ever expected a warrior to be able to deal so much damage from afar!

A single Sword Boomerang had nearly broken the nerve of the entire Candle Dragon guild. A group of their magic knights started to glance at each other nervously as they shifted on their feet.

Gulp!

Blue Sky Scar sucked in a deep breath of cold air as his eyes drilled into me. He calmly said, "Then let’s continue our battle. Candle Dragon will neither compromise nor surrender! Let’s have it out then, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! Let’s see how much you’ve grown since the last time we beat you!"

He Yi brandished the Blade of the Earthen Soul as she laughed. "You’ll definitely be in for a surprise then! Everyone! Form up and prepare to attack!"

……

A voice rang out from behind us. It was the leader of Blazing Hot Lips, Stranger of Three Lifetimes. "Oh, is it time for a duel of long-range firepower? Alright, it’s my turn now…"

I nodded my head appreciatively before retreating together with Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, and He Yi. A few minutes later, Stranger of Three Lifetimes walked forward with a veritable horde of mages and archers. They took up position along the side of the river as she turned toward us and laughed. "Hey, I want the powerful Dark Archer Beiming Xue to join me as well! Let’s show them what for!"

"Alright!"

Beiming Xue activated Bow God as she led a squad of a hundred archers forward. They took their place besides Stranger of Three Lifetimes and prepared to attack.

After that, Stranger of Three Lifetimes gave a sharp command and all of the archers and mages from our side moved five yards forward and unleashed a shower of destruction. A storm of arrows, fireballs, wind blades, and Galaxy Storms fell toward the Candle Dragon formation as their own long-range players started attacking as well.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Huge blasts of light and magic rippled across both sides of the river and the earth itself seemed to be shaking from these raucous explosions. Spiraling Arrow Blades and Galaxy Storms were the main stars of the show as they tore many players to shreds.

It seemed as if most of the archers from both sides were downed by those skills the very instant the battle started. Even though their Defense and HP were higher than mages’, archers didn’t have shields of any sort, so they really couldn’t take many hits. Thus, all archers had to rely on their agility to dodge attacks, but there was no real way to dodge magic attacks, and many of them died in the opening salvo of the battle.

This brutal exchange continued for nearly ten minutes as countless long-range players died on both sides. They were dropping like flies and even the high-level archers in Beiming Xue’s squad were not spared. Most of them had already died and only Beiming Xue, who had exceptionally high Defense and HP for an archer, had managed to survive without breaking a sweat.

……

"This won’t work! We’re losing people way too fast…" Stranger of Three Lifetimes said as her staff danced in the air.

As she launched Galaxy Storm at the enemy’s best mage, God’s Dance, she continued, "Lu Chen, think of something! We can’t keep eating losses like this. Candle Dragon really has a lot of players and there are quite a lot of them on the outside. We are the ones attacking, so we can’t afford to take these losses. Candle Dragon is also tying us down right now, and if another guild takes this opportunity to enter the territory hall, then all of this will be for naught."

I immediately spurred my Ice Qilin Horse forward and hurled my sword out again. Another Sword Boomerang spun through the air and even God’s Dance was forced to retreat from it. Candle Dragon’s attacks faltered for a moment, but there was no way that I could suppress their long-range attackers on their own. It was a pipe dream to think that I could Sword Boomerang Candle Dragon to death.

I stared across the river to see that the players from Throne Seeker were also fending off enemy attackers at the edge of the city. The enemy players seemed to be from Gods of Destruction. Dominating Heaven Blade heroically ran forward and cleaved enemy players with his huge blade. It was clear that he was buffed to the max as he yelled in a loud and exaggerated voice. "My fellow comrades, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Blazing Hot Lips have been held up by Candle Dragon. Now’s our chance to rush into the city and take over the territory hall. Everyone, follow me!"

Emperor’s Equal roared out an angry retort, "Follow your sister! Do you think that I’ll just let you waltz into the city!? You’ll have to step over my dead body to get in!"

The battle burned hotter and hotter, devolving into a savage brawl!

……

I opened up my minimap and quickly looked it over. After that, my eyes lit up as I turned to Gui Guzi and said, "Gui Guzi, do a quick count of how many Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen are left. Also, find out how many riders we have left that are over Level 130!"

Gui Guzi instantly replied, "Boss Broken Halberd, we still have 1350 Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen who are ready for battle. Our main guild also has over 5000 riders who are above Level 130. What’s your plan, boss?"

I nodded my head and said, "Open up your minimap and take a look at this. There is another way to get across this moat. There is a stone bridge to the south of us that connects directly to the back of this little fort of theirs, and it can’t be destroyed. It seems that Candle Dragon was too focused on retreating that they didn’t see they could be flanked from farther back. We can use the superior speed of our cavalrymen to swiftly circle around the moat and launch an attack from behind! If we can pull that off, victory is ours! Candle Dragon wouldn’t be able to hold up against attacks from both sides even if their army was a hundred thousand strong!"

Gui Guzi’s lips curved up into a wicked grin. "Okay, I’ll immediately assemble the men!"

Five minutes later, the remnants of the Cyan Tiger Cavalry assembled together with 5000 other riders from our guild. On my command, our entire group of cavalrymen flew toward the south!

……

When we reached the stone bridge, it became clear that Candlelight Shadow had managed to find this weakness as well. A troop of 1000 players had been stationed there to defend it. However, it was clear that they had just arrived and hadn’t gotten into proper formation yet. A vicious grin formed on my face as Heaven’s Rain, Gui Guzi, He Yi, and I led our troops straight into the teeth of this shabby mess of a formation!

We conquered the stone bridge with ease and as I waved my sword forward, over 6000 cavalrymen thundered toward the back of Candle Dragon’s main force.