"Ling Xueshang?"

I grabbed a dry branch and pulled myself up the slope. Standing still next to Ling Xueshang, I asked with a smile, "Why are you here? I thought The Monarch Descends is supposed to defend the center?"

Ling Xueshang nodded. "We were supposed to, but the frontline had crumbled way faster than anyone could’ve imagined. Unlike Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, those failures from Candle Dragon couldn’t withstand Hero City’s assault at all. You were far more reliable than they were."

I shrugged and said, "Well, not anymore. The 17 guilds of Hot Sand City are attacking us, and they have at least a dozen Heroic Bannermen with them. We couldn’t hold them back all by ourselves, so we had to lure them into Horse Hoof Valley and pray for a big victory."

Ling Xueshang chuckled. "That is exactly why I’ve come to reinforce you with a hundred thousand elites. We’ve been on the move ever since Sister He Yi messaged me, and we just finished arranging our troops. Hehe, what do you think? I’m a timely rain, aren’t I?"

"Yes you are!" I nodded strongly. "With the brothers and sisters from The Monarch Descends aiding us, today can only be a nightmare for the Vietnamese players of Hot Sand City! Be ready for the slaughter!"

"Got it!"

He Yi, Beiming Xue, Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Li Chengfeng, Xu Yang and everyone else were already waiting at the middle of the mountain. By the time I returned to them and stood in the middle of the group, the floor of the valley was overflowing with Northern Alliance cavalry already.

"It’s almost time. Should we close the door and start the mission?" Li Chengfeng asked.

"Yeah!"

I gave him an affirmative nod and unsheathed my sword. Then, I shouted loudly, "Cyan Tiger Cavalry, cut off the enemy’s retreat now! Everyone else, raise your shields and form a perimeter around the forest edge! Mages, archers and all backliners, attack and bury all these riders in Horse Hoof Valley!"

The Dragonlight Cavalry wasn’t mounted right now, but that didn’t stop them from pulling out their weapons and charging toward their positions.

On the ground, the confused players of Hot Sand City abruptly realized they had walked into a trap and became angry. Eye of the Storm even shouted, "Climb up the mountains and kill Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and From Water. Our one million elite cavalrymen are invincible on horseback or on foot! Kill them all!"

It was chaotic. A sea of people started surging toward the fortified positions our people had manned themselves in.

Right now, Gui Guzi and Diamond Dust were standing atop a natural barrier that was about two meters above ground level at the edge of the forest. He and the magic knights he brought with him dropped their shields on the rock they were standing on and hid themselves behind their shields, searching for opportunities to counterattack the enemy.

Once the defense line was fully formed, the archers and mages started shooting their arrows and magic at a 45-degree angle. Once the battle began, the cacophony of explosions was constant, with Stranger of Three Lifetimes’ spells being the standout of them all. The halos and shock waves she caused were a complete nightmare to the Northern Alliance riders.

"Dammit, these despicable Chinese players!"

Eye of the Storm was furious. He had a couple of riders who were almost at the same height as Gui Guzi and Diamond Dust because they were still mounted, and they hacked away at their shields like they were tireless machines. However, they were unable to threaten our magic knights at all because they were naturally strong and healed by our priests.

He Yi walked closer to the enemy and summoned her Firelight Mouse. The little guy ran up her shoulder and swayed its fiery tail. A moment later, fire rained from above and burned the enemy riders like hell.

High Fighting Spirits showed off his manliness by leaping off the natural barrier and landing in the middle of the enemies. Once he let out a shout and surrounded himself in a cyclone of energy, the Xiezhi Howl instantly turned all surrounding players into dead bodies and drops.

"K-kill that High Fighting Spirits!" shouted a Northern Alliance rider, but found it hard to actually engage our berserker. It was a mountainous terrain and a forest, so mounts couldn’t walk on the ground properly without chafing their hooves, much less run on it. At this point, the mounts were a burden, not a benefit. This section of the valley was definitely unsuitable for cavalry battles.

I let out a laugh before barking the next order, "Where are our Soul of the Foot players? Don’t let that 100% Attack and Defense boost go to waste, people! Get ready to tighten our formation and slaughter these bastards!"

Yama Slayer and A Lazy Cat immediately jumped off the rocks and activated their stratagems. After they invited a bunch of warriors into their group, they coordinated with our ranged players and attacked the enemies.

I also leaped down the rocks and used Burning Blade Slash before I even hit the ground. The three flaming auras dealt heavy damage to the enemy and left deep marks on the ground.

Thud!

After landing firmly on my feet, I crossed my sword in front of me and stomped my foot, tearing the dozen or so enemies charging me into shreds with War Crush. Having earned a lull for myself, I summoned my apparition and the Phantom Wolf King and charged toward a group of enemies. There was only Hot Sand City cavalry in this valley, so every Galaxy Storm, Spiraling Arrow Blade, Volley, Ice Blast and so on being tossed around belonged to us. As a result, I felt no pressure whatsoever.

Standing at the edge of a rock, He Yi ordered, "Lu Buyi, add 200 Dragonlight Cavalry into your party and let them slowly push toward the enemies while mounted!"

Lu Buyi accepted the order gladly and called out, "Powerful Dragonlight Cavalry who would like to enjoy a 95% boost to all stats, get on your horses and come to me to register as a party member!"

Countless Dragonlight Cavalrymen immediately responded to the order and filled up the party slots in no time. Even High Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun were among the volunteers. After the Dragonlight Cavalry’s stats were boosted by 95%, they unleashed even greater strength than before. The mountain forest was treacherous, but the Dragonlight Armored Horses were Spirit Rank boss mounts. Their movement speed was reduced by 50% or so, but their combat capabilities were unaffected.

Battle cries filled the air as the Dragonlight Cavalry carved into the enemy’s ranks. After they were boosted by Purple Dragon, they became so powerful that almost all of the enemy’s attacks were negligible. It was only natural, however. Their HP and Defense were high, and they only had to worry about physical attacks.

In fact, Chaos Moon used Guard and let a dozen or so magic knights Barrier Break her. Somehow, she managed to survive their combined attack!

Everyone’s confidence soared even higher thanks to this. They began hacking away at the enemy with wanton disregard!

……

Eye of the Storm shouted, "Take out that tactician, Clear Light! Pooh, how could there be such a powerful tactician in the China server? That Purple Dragon is way too powerful!"

A beautiful Level 157 archer carrying a heroic banner darted behind the magic knights. She was also a guild leader. An archer couldn’t outrun mounted cavalry, so I reckoned that someone had carried her on their mount when they gave chase earlier. That fucker Eye of the Storm wasn’t so stupid after all.

Clear Light managed to use Leap to get all the way to the edge of the forest without being caught by our ranged firepower. She abruptly charged forward and shot Devil Piercing Arrow and Volley straight at Lu Buyi!

"Buyi watch out!" I shouted in warning.

"What?"

Lu Buyi saw the attack, but panicked less than I expected he would. He took a step backward and swung his Burning Fan right in front of his chest. Miraculously, he actually parried the Devil Piercing Arrow! After that, Lu Buyi gritted his teeth, withdrew unto himself and used Guard!

Chiang chiang chiang...

Clear Light managed to land a whopping number of eight shots on Lu Buyi, rocking his steel fan and causing sparks to scatter everywhere. Luckily, Lu Buyi only lost 81% of his HP because he had good HP and Defense. One Greater Heal from Murong Mingyue later, he was restored to full health in an instant!

"This is impossible…"

Clear Light’s mouth fell open in disbelief. She never thought that a tactician would dare to parry her Devil Piercing Arrow and actually succeed at it, and she definitely wasn’t expecting her full-powered combo to fail to delete a mere tactician from existence.

Swhoosh!

I didn’t wait for Clear Light to recover from her astonishment. Summoning four divine weapons from the sky and locking her in place, I shouted, "How about you play with me instead!"

I immediately launched a Dragon Slaying Slash and Sword Boomerang at her!

Clear Light knew that there was no dodging this, so she crossed her bow in front of herself and Guarded!

However, I wasn’t the only one attacking her. Chaos Moon found an opening to fire the mounted long-range version of Rock Crush, and He Yi leaped right down the rocks to activate Purgatory of Ice and Magma!

Bang bang bang...

Sword auras enveloped Clear Light in an instant. Of course, there was no chance the tiny archer was going to survive this!

Ding~!

System Announcement: Attention all players, Heroic Bannerman "Clear Light" (Vietnam) has been killed by player "From Water" (China)!

Perfect. The fact that the kill credit went to He Yi could only be beneficial to our guild. It proved that she was a master of both the pen and the sword.

……

Some distance away, I saw the Cyan Tiger Cavalry running back and forth across the valley entrance and cutting off the only escape path the Northern Alliance cavalry had. Du Thirteen was even waiting at the center of the valley entrance as if daring the Northern Alliance cavalry to come at his direction. You wanna get out of this valley? Sure! Just let me poke you a couple thousand times first, give or take.

Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Blazing Hot Lips and The Monarch Descends players swarmed toward the elite cavalry of Hot Sand City from every direction, filling their bodies with steel, arrows and fireballs. It was a complete slaughter!

By now, Eye of the Storm had completely lost his mind and was charging back and forth like a wild beast. He only had himself to blame though. If he wasn’t as arrogant as he was, we would never be able to entrap him like this.

The Dragonlight Cavalry and even I got on our mounts. There was enough space at the center of the valley to perform some mini cavalry charges, and there was nothing the Northern Alliance could do to us because they only had cavalry. More importantly, Knight God and Knight General were such amazing Famous General Skills that it would be a waste not to use them to the fullest.