There were 197 players from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls who had successfully passed that layer of traps. The rest of the guild was too afraid to try their luck. There were a fair number of us who had been burned or frozen to death by those traps, and this even included some of our better players. The way these traps were designed sent a very clear message to every player who encountered them. Only first-class players could proceed past that point. Everyone else had to go back from whence they came.

……

"Let’s split up into separate parties!"

I quickly took stock of our players and said, "We will split into four parties and the party leaders will be Eve, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon and I. I know I don’t need to say this but activate your Famous General Skills once we form them. Every party will be composed of fifty players and we will split up to grind. We will boost everyone’s leveling speed this way. There are still many monsters on the first floor of Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower, so there’s more than enough experience points to go around."

Everyone nodded their heads and started to split into the various parties.

Murong Mingyue, Moonlight Stone, Xu Yang, and High Fighting Spirits joined He Yi’s party, which would receive a 50% buff to their stats across the board. Meanwhile, Beiming Xue, Moon Dew, Pure Love, Du Thirteen, and Yamete joined my party. This was quite the optimal party composition. I would act as the tank and there was more than enough healing and DPS in the back to support me. Even though Yamete and Moon Dew weren’t Murong Minyue’s equals as priests, the two of them combined would definitely be able to provide more healing than a single Murong Mingyue.

……

I summoned the Ice Qilin Horse and swung myself onto its back. After that, Pure Love once again buffed me with Physique, Death March, Divine Valor, and more, boosting all of my stats. After that, I used a Scavenger Imp Card, which boosted my attack speed and monster drop rate. This was how my party would get more goodies!

"Let’s go!"

As I pointed my sword forward, I rushed out to the head of the formation, Du Thirteen hot on my heels. He was riding on one of the Dragonlight Armored Horses, so he managed to keep up with me. Furthermore, the 200% Attack buff from my Martial God boosted his Attack to insane levels as well.

When I took a glance at Du Thirteen, who was trailing right behind me, I exclaimed in shock, "Hey, when did you become a Famous General, Thirteen!? I didn’t even know about it…"

The emblem that was representative of the "Famous General" status was floating above his head. Even though I didn’t know what his Famous General Skill did, this confirmed that he did in fact have one.

"Heh, it was on the night you went to find Beauty Lin, so I decided not to disturb you."

"Oh, what’s the name of your Famous General Skill?"

"Poseidon!"

"Fuck, Poseidon? What does it do?"

"You’ll know soon enough…"

What the hell!? This punk is planning to keep me in suspense until he actually uses the skill!

……

As we advanced, we saw two Level 185 dread-rank Bronze Beasts waiting for us, their heavy bodies swaying side to side. Their blood-red eyes glared at us, the unwelcome guests to this tower, as they let out bloodcurdling roars. These huge lumps of metal had staggering HP, Defense, and Attack, so they were very hard opponents to deal with.

I hurriedly shouted, "Priests, mages, archers, fall back immediately! Maintain distance of at least thirty yards from these monsters. All warriors whose HP exceeds 70000, follow me! We’ll meet these two Bronze Beasts head-on. Lil Beiming, remember to use Bone Eroding Arrow to lower their Defense. We’ll be able to kill them faster that way. I also want all the fighters to watch out for those copper spears ! Once a Bronze Beast shoots one at you, you’re to immediately assume a defensive stance. You’ll be able to reduce the damage by at least 50% that way!"

"Yeah, we got it!" Du Thirteen and the seven other mounted warriors that had accompanied him all nodded their head in unison. All of these fighters were Dragonlight Cavalrymen, so they were the best of the best in our guild. This also meant that I didn’t really need to worry about their safety during these fights, which was a relief for me.

I waved my hand at the Bronze Beasts, causing four divine weapons to come howling down from the ceiling. My God Binding Art bound one of them with exquisite accuracy, which also attracted the aggro of the other one. It immediately lunged at me with a furious howl, but it wasn’t moving at a very fast speed. This combined with its huge mass made it seem as if a copper wall was rushing toward me.

Wooosh!

Electricity crackled in the air as I activated Thunderous Charge and stunned the second Bronze Beast in the middle of its bullrush. By the time I raised the Cyan Netherworld Sword to strike it, Beiming Xue’s Bone Eroding Arrow had already smashed into its head with a loud bang. A sickly purple aura spread across its skin as the debuff reduced the Bronze Beast’s Defense by 50%. Even though it was a metal beast, it was also humanoid, so the Bone Eroding Arrow was able to affect it.

I immediately hit it with Universe Break + Burning Blade Slash. My skills erupted out of my sword and smashed into the Bronze Beast’s weakened head, causing the sound of metal crashing against metal to ring in the air. The head was also the Bronze Beast’s weak point and any attacks which struck it there would deal at least 25% more damage. This was a technique used for grinding, where you would learn to exploit even the smallest advantage for maximal effect. In fact, I would say that the difference between a so-called expert and an ordinary player was that one side sought to constantly refine their techniques and skills. In my opinion, there was no such thing as an absolute genius.

A string of damage numbers popped above the Bronze Beast’s head as it wailed in agony. My flurry of blows had shaved away a good amount of its HP.

51099!

25673!

35272!

46266!

I hit it with two basic attacks, dropping the Bronze Beast’s HP below 50%. My incredible attack power had allowed me to burn away that much health in an instant, and I was probably the only one in the server who could deal that much damage in a burst.

"God damn, he only hit it with two combos…" Yamete exclaimed incredulously. "This damage… is way too high. Ah, where is Du Thirteen going to hide his face now? You really are a terrible brother…"

I bared my teeth at Yamete. "You can’t blame me! The effect of Beiming Xue’s Bone Eroding Arrow is simply incredible. Without her armor break, my attacks would deal at least 40% less damage!"

Beiming Xue giggled as she cheered us on. "Go team, go!"

"Alright!"

Spiraling Arrow Blades and Dragon’s Roars immediately converged on the hapless Bronze Beast. It didn’t even last fifteen seconds before it collapsed to the ground, dead. My party’s DPS was simply too high!

After that, we swiftly dispatched the other Bronze Beast, causing our experience bars to jump a tick. Hot damn! Even though we were sharing experience points among so many people, we could still see our experience bars jump after killing just two of these things. These Bronze Beasts simply gave way too much experience. If… if I could grind here by myself, that would be a dream come true. My levels would rise like a rocket and what a wonderful thing that would be!

……

After I finished my short daydream, we continued to move forward. Even though the monsters in this place gave us an abundant amount of EXP and items, it was still filled with all sorts of hidden dangers. For one, the boss couldn’t be soloed, so taking it down wouldn’t be easy or quick. Furthermore, there were far too many enemies moving about in the area. Putting aside the monsters and the players of the Northern Alliance, we had also heard that Candle Dragon had entered the tower. A fierce battle would be inevitable the moment any of our forces came into contact with Candle Dragon. After all, we had designated each other as enemy guilds, so we would definitely come to blows if we saw one another.

"Big bro…"

Beiming Xue pointed at the dark and gloomy hallway in front of us and giggled. "We’re moving rather fast right now. Sis Eve and Sis Chaos Moon are still lagging behind us and there are an awful lot of monsters ahead…"

"Heh, what do we have to be afraid of!? Lure them all over to where we are! Let’s just get rid of them!"

"Teehee, okay, I’ll go lure the mobs over right now. You’d better hold on tight…" A naughty smile flashed across Beiming Xue’s face as she drew back her bowstring. An ominous feeling immediately swept over me. What was this rascal of a little sister up to now?

I understood the reason behind that smile in the very next instant. Beiming Xue’s bowstring buzzed loudly when she finally released her attack. Twelve arrows that glowed with purple light howled out of her bow as she used Evil Spirit Volley. They each whistled toward different locations and the enraged roars of Bronze Beasts soon reverberated in the darkness as those arrows found their mark. After that, we heard metal paws pounding toward us from several different directions! As the Bronze Beasts emerged into the light, we saw that there were eight of them altogether!

"Fuck me! Beiming, you brat!"

Both Du Thirteen and I shared the exact same expression of shock and dismay. Eight Bronze Beasts!? This is way too crazy!!

We didn’t have much time to react, but I immediately ordered the Phantom Wolf King to aggro one of them. At the same time, I activated God Binding Art with a swish of my hand, the four divine weapons successfully restricting another one. Once I did that, I turned the ring on my finger and summoned the clone to go aggro a third Bronze Beast. It was then that I finally shouted, "Every Dragonlight Cavalryman is to tank one Bronze Beast on their own! Gather them in the center so we can fight as a unit! Priests, we need you to be at the top of your game! Don’t let anyone die!"

The Ice Qilin Horse swiftly surged forward as I slashed the air with my sword. Three crescent waves of flaming sword energy burst out of my sword and engulfed the group of Bronze Beasts rushing at us. I managed to drag seven of them toward me and I started to release Icy Cyclone Domains as I ran. The area in front of us soon turned into a "slow zone" for the monsters. This was to minimize the damage we would take, as fast monsters could always spring a surprise on unsuspecting players.

"Rooooaaaaarr..."

The Bronze Beasts’ roars shook the hallway as we clashed with them. I was kiting four of them by myself, and my constant movements made them miss most of their attacks. I wasn’t doing this to show off. If I tanked hits from all four of those Bronze Beasts, I’d be dead in no time. The damage they dealt to me would far outpace what our priests could heal. After all, I only had five priests in my party, so their healing had to be rationed appropriately.

Pure Love was holding a staff in one hand as she raised the other in the air. This caused snowflakes to start to fall over the area. It was an ice magic spell that wasn’t very strong, but every little bit of damage helped. After that, she raised both hands in the air and green-colored vines soon burst out from the ground and started healing the riders who were tanking the Bronze Beasts.

Not bad! The Bard class was a true jack-of-all-trades. After they cast their buffs, they could even use attack magic and healing spells. Even though their damage and healing couldn’t be compared to mages or priests, their overall utility wasn’t in any way inferior to either class.

"It’s finally my time to shine…"

A big grin appeared on Du Thirteen’s face as he rushed in between two Bronze Beasts. After that, he raised his sword high in the air and shouted, "Poseidon! It’s time to flood Jinshan!" [1]

Boom!

A huge amount of water suddenly appeared out of thin air and a lake seemed to appear around my Icy Cyclone Domains in an instant. It didn't affect the players in our party at all, but the eight Bronze Beasts suddenly started moving as if they were swimming. Their movement speed dropped even lower and they were even starting to take damage from the water.

……

"Holy fuck, so this is Poseidon…" I gasped in shock as I stared at the small lake that had appeared. It looked to take up an area that was about 40x40 yards in size.

Du Thirteen nodded his head. "That’s right. It isn’t bad is it. It’s an active Famous General Skill that lasts for 60 seconds and has a cooldown of 120 seconds. You wouldn’t wanna get hit by that, right?"

I nodded my head in reply. "Fuck me. I definitely wouldn’t want to get hit by that…"

After I finished speaking, I immediately got the Phantom Wolf King to unleash another Purgatory Storm. This immediately caused Du Thirteen to jump up in fright as he thought that a mage had used some sort of forbidden spell.

"Aooouuu…" The withering attack power of my party sent these Bronze Beasts to their grave one after the other. Even though Du Thirteen and I were down to 60% of our health by the end of the battle, no one had died and that was what was important. A smile crept up on my face as I glanced at my experience bar. These eight Bronze Beasts alone had boosted it by more than 3%! This was awesome!

……

Thunk!

After all the Bronze Beasts died, there were two drops that immediately caught my eye. One was a dark green card and the other one was an ocean blue helmet.

"Oh, oh! Something awesome dropped…" Beiming Xue crowed with excitement.

I stepped forward and picked up the items. I looked at the card first and a smile immediately appeared on my face. Not bad! Not bad at all!

Bronze Beast Card: Increases user’s Attack by 15%, Defense by 40%, and max HP by 20%. Duration: 120 minutes. Level Requirement: 120.

1. This is a reference to an old Chinese folktale "Madam White Snake" where Jinshan Temple gets flooded during a clash between supernatural beings