The flames of war closed in on White Horse City as a million troops encircled it completely. Sitting atop neighing warhorses and unsheathing their weapons, countless riders waited for the signal to begin the siege with bated breaths.

The defenders stood by on the wall with equal intensity. Their weapons and armors gleamed beneath the sun, and the flag of White Horse City fluttered loudly to the wind. The dense mass of archers standing on the walls was waiting for the Chinese players to enter their attack range so that they could riddle them with holes. Even now, more Silverlight Arrow Towers were being built inside the city.

People massed in great numbers, and red clouds gathered above the city almost as if the heavens themselves were creating some flair to make the upcoming battle more exciting. The city wasn’t just guarded by the Northern Alliance, but also the NPCs. In fact, there were a lot of them. White Horse City was an NPC-guarded city in the first place, and the city was so small that, once we began the siege, I had no doubt that they would fight us to the death. There was no reason for them to abandon a main city after all.

……

"All magic knights with shields, move to the first line! Mounted warriors and wanderers, line up behind them! Defense formation, advance slowly toward the city until we are 100 yards away from them!"

I was busy barking orders to get everyone ready as soon as possible. We hadn’t discussed this beforehand, but all the main guilds participating in this battle—Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya, Blazing Hot Lips and The Monarch Descends—seemed to agree that I was the supreme commander, and that my word was law. Lin Yixin, Stranger of Three Lifetimes and Ling Xueshang were probably the ones who had given that order. It made sense because the lack of a unified command meant that there was a high chance we would accidentally get in each other’s way, leading to disadvantageous situations.

I took a moment to look at the engineers behind me before nodding. "Alright, it’s time to set up the catapults and ballistas. Let’s give them a taste of our China-made siege weapons, shall we?"

The gang laughed as they got to work.

The engineers started by casting their support skills and pulling out parts from their bags. Then, they began assembling those parts into siege weapons. A short while later, rows of black-colored catapults with oracle bone characters floating above their surface were set up behind our formation. The siege weapon was the local specialty of Sky City, Vanished God City and Wind City, and it was called “Black Tortoise Catapult”. Similar to the Americans’ Fire Catapults, the construct was unique to the China server. The Black Tortoise Catapult didn’t have a burning effect, but it dealt extra damage to city walls. Therefore, it was extremely useful when deployed in a siege battle as the attacker.

Five long minutes later, nearly a hundred Black Tortoise Catapults were set up around the entire city. The siege weapon had a shooting range of 200 yards. If the enemy thought that our bark was worse than our bite, they would cease their wishful thinking right about now. A Black Tortoise Catapult took an incredible amount of manpower, resources and even Rank 6 guild materials to construct, so a non-super guild might not be able to own even one such construct. Roughly speaking, a Black Tortoise Catapult cost about fifty thousand RMB, and this was a conservative estimate. After all, you needed to raise a high-level engineer first before you could build a Black Tortoise Catapult, and just like how a pilot was sometimes more valuable than the jet fighter they were piloting, the upkeep of a high-level engineer was nothing to scoff at.

"Assembling is complete, vice leader!" a Level 164 engineer said to me with a smile.

I knew this guy. He was He Yi’s trusted aide and one of the former managers of GGS Suzhou’s marketing department. He was also a hardcore gamer, and he had been fighting by our side since all the way back in Spirit of Grief. We were all noobs back then, but things were different now. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was now a military powerhouse, and this guy had also become one of our top engineers. It was why he was jokingly called "4S shopkeeper" in the guild.

Finally, I looked to Lin Yixin, Stranger of Three Lifetimes and Ling Xueshang, and all three girls gave me a nod and said, "Let’s do it!"

"Alright!"

I smiled and raised the Cyan Netherworld Sword above my head. Then, I shouted, "Black Tortoise Catapults, aim at the walls and... attack!"

Sounds of recoil springs filled the air, and the ground shook slightly from the sudden movement. An instant later, dozens of black rocks soared through the air and headed straight toward White Horse City!

Swhoosh swhoosh...

As the giant rocks flew, the air rubbed against the oracle bone characters surrounding the rocks and lit them on fire. But unlike your normal flame, it burned an eerie silvery purple color and resembled the flames of the Netherworld. The flaming rocks hit White Horse City’s southern walls and caused many terrific explosions. The might of the Black Tortoise Catapults was on full display at that moment!

Boom boom boom...

The silver purple rocks left gigantic holes in the walls which shook like leaves under the bombardment, and those who were unfortunate enough to be struck directly were either dead or almost dead. After all, how many players could survive a 150k damage hit?

The Black Tortoise Catapults’ attacks were incredibly deadly. This was just the first round, but the walls were riddled with large holes that were around two meters deep, and there were parts that were strewn with web-like cracks already. They looked like they might crumble at any moment.

……

"My god, just how powerful are these siege weapons!?"

The hammer-wielding commander’s eyes looked bloodshot with urgency. He waved his warhammer and declared, "We can’t afford to wait here any longer! Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry and Behemoth Cavalry, ride with me! We must breach their formation and destroy these Black Tortoise Catapults now!"

His troops immediately began amassing themselves. Soon, three mounted players with the Knight General stratagems stepped into the open and ordered grimly, "The time to slaughter our enemies and wet our blades with the invaders’ blood is now, Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry! For the glory of the north!"

God damn, three Knight Generals at once? They’re not holding back alright!

I raised my own weapon and ordered, "Get ready to repel the enemy! All parties with Knight General, Blitz and Bombshell buffs on them will move to the first line! Purple Marquis, see if you can nullify their Famous General Skill with Insight! We cannot let these Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen buff their Attack and Defense by 100%!"

"Understood!" Purple Marquis nodded heavily.

At this moment, every Chinese player gripped their blades tightly and waited for the inevitable impact. There was no need to countercharge because victory was ours as long as we held the line. Strategy-wise, we definitely held the upper hand this time. The Black Tortoise Catapults alone would be enough to crush the Northern Alliance’s hopes and dreams.

……

The green fields were trampled as the Northern Alliance’s cavalry rode toward us. The sight of flying grass and the refreshing scent of grassy soil blowing into my nostrils made my mind feel clearer!

"Here they come! Get ready!"

I chuckled as I gripped my weapon. "Please do your best, backliners. They only have cavalry, and we hold the absolute advantage right now. Archers, use Mountain Stagger Arrows! Mages, use Galaxy Storms!"

When the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry got within 50 yards of our battle line, Beiming Xue and the archers finally couldn’t hold back any longer and fired their arrows at the enemies. Over 80% of the arrow rain was composed of Mountain Stagger Arrows, striking against the enemy’s chest armor and chipping away at their mount tenacity. Beiming Xue’s Mountain Stagger Arrow was especially deadly because her Attack was insanely high. She was able to delete 50% of a Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry’s mount tenacity bar in one hit, meaning that she could dismount someone in just 2 hits. For the enemies, she was a nightmarish opponent for sure.

Meanwhile, Li Chengfeng activated Great Earth Transformation. Standing at the forefront and letting out a chuckle, he used Dragonbone Flurry and riddled an enemy’s torso with holes. His skill was both gorgeous and deadly!

Purple Marquis also pointed in front of him and used his Famous General Skill. A party leader with Knight General immediately exclaimed in astonishment and disbelief, "Fuck me, my Knight General got Insighted! I need someone to replace me now! Fuck this disgusting stratagem!"

Purple Marquis let out a chuckle before ordering, "Purple Dragon Cavalry, attack!"

……

The silence looming over the battlefield was shredded as both sides clashed against one another. The instant I summoned the Phantom Wolf King, I swung my sword in two different directions and unleashed Thousand Ice Slash and Burning Blade Slash. Then, I rushed forward to knock a Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalryman’s shield to the side and sent another enemy rider flying through the air. Players in different realms wielded different powers of domains. Naturally, the one with the superior realm was much stronger than the one with the inferior realm.

Lin Yixin was spurring the Moonchaser Tiger to jump into an enemy group before hitting them with a devastating Ice Flame Slash. She was wearing a full 4-piece Dark Prison set and the one and only Cambrian Divine Armament equipment in the entire world, so there was almost no one who could stop her.

Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, Heaven’s Rain and Diamond Dust were all fighting at the frontline as well. They were giving it everything they got.

At the back, a scholarly-looking Lu Buyi was buffing all the stats of 400 Dragonlight Cavalrymen by 90% and unleashing one Dragon Vein Art after another at the enemies. A high-level tactician’s offensive spells could be pretty powerful, so it wouldn’t be a mistake to treat him like a high-level mage.

Of course, one of our best AoE weapons of mass destruction was still Beiming Xue. Her Evil Spirit Volley already dealt an insane amount of splash damage, but her Spiraling Arrow Blade was even crazier. Every skill she used dealt around 70k damage to the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry, so two Spiraling Arrow Blades were all it took to delete them from existence. Depending on how fast her target was, sometimes they didn’t even get the chance to restore themselves with potions. Moreover, all archers possessed a ridiculous number of AoE skills, so it barely took them any effort to wipe out all the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry in front of them.

"Dammit, that archer is way too powerful! Richard, activate your Knight General and take her out!" The hammer-wielding commander shouted.

Very soon, a warrior riding a Bloodthirsty Beast and wielding a war axe assembled a party of 400 and charged toward Beiming Xue with murderous intent.

"Hmph! Come on, I’m not scared of you…"

Beiming Xue didn’t look worried in the slightest. Controlling her aim with her bow flicking skills, she accurately let loose an Evil Spirit Volley and a Spiraling Arrow Blade into the incoming riders and deleted dozens of Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry in no time.

However, the enemy riders moved too fast for a single archer to halt their footsteps. As they moved closer and closer, it seemed inevitable that they would reach Beiming Xue and engage her in melee.

It was at this moment the dark archer smiled and moved to the back, saying, "Lian Xin, kill them!"

"Oh oh~"

Lian Xin responded cheerfully and replaced Beiming Xue. Then, she created a dozen of Origin Force Fields right in front of her, causing the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry to run right into them. Not only did their momentum come to a complete halt, the impact alone cost them a lot of HP. The two girls were clearly having the time of their life.

Worse, a bluish formation appeared on the ground, and a storm of ice blades instantly cut into their flesh and armor. It was ironic, the unique skill the Americans had created themselves was being used against their own people.

Still not satisfied, Beiming Xue used Well of the Abyss and trapped almost a hundred Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen immediately. Scared out of his wits, Richard turned his mount around and escaped while screaming, "We will fight again, you fiend!"