Twelve Musicians was a very famous guild in Floating Ice City not because they were strong, but because they only accepted single women into their ranks. Their guild leader, Hugging Bears in Silence, was especially popular among men. It was said that the man who managed to woo Hugging Bears in Silence basically owned all twenty thousand Twelve Musicians players as well, and assuming that the lucky man had sex with one woman per night, it would be 54 years before he had to repeat the cycle.

Moreover, I could personally attest that Hugging Bears in Silence was a great assassin with excellent equipment because I had encountered her once in the competitive arena, but still annihilated her. From my experience, I could tell that she was a Top 100 assassin in Sky City at least. Right now though, Hugging Bears in Silence was only Level 71. Somehow, she had lost 110 levels in a single day!

"What on earth happened?" I asked after I got off my horse and supported her.

Eyes still welling with humiliation, she said, "It’s over for the Twelve Musicians, it’s all over…"

I raised my voice and half-yelled, "Tell me what happened!"

Our guild was surrounded in Sunset Forest and murdered repeatedly. Many people have dropped to Level 0 and lost all their equipment. I couldn’t save them because I’m useless…"

"How did this happen? Can’t they just force a logout?" I growled.

"They’re just too stubborn…"

"Dammit!"

I got up my mount again and asked, "I’ll head there right now. You can come with me if you want, and by that I mean stealth and watch from the sides. Who is the guild who’s slaughtering your players, by the way?"

Hugging Bears in Silence uttered through gritted teeth, "Tail Feather Palace…"

"Fuck!"

I swore. "The fourth strongest guild of Purple Grape City, is it? I’ll teach them a lesson!"

……

"Let’s go!"

I charged through the forest at top speed. Sharp brambles cut my arms as I navigated the narrow terrain, but it wasn’t nearly enough to distract me from my fury. How could I, when these animals wouldn’t even give our players the chance to log out of the game?

Boom!

The Armored Ice Qilin Horse burst through a couple more thorny brambles and arrived at a forest clearing. Actually, it was more like a low-lying land in a valley. The valley ground was filled with red-named Purple Grape City players, and countless mages were chanting spells and firing Galaxy Storms, Arctic Rains, Fire Walls and more into the center. The archers were drawing their bows and firing Multi Arrows repeatedly as well.

At the center of the valley ground was a graveyard with two thousand female players in it. This was a resurrection point where players could resurrect directly, but the Purple Grape City players had turned it into a slaughtering ground.

The female players were all Twelve Musicians guild members, and over half of them were naked and below Level 100. There were a couple of female fighters who covered their privates with their cloaks and tried to charge the enemy’s shield wall, but their damage was negligible without the necessary level or equipment. It was a hopeless situation to say the least.

Pu!

A Japanese magic knight with a vulgar face removed his shield and stabbed a female fighter right through the chest, one-shotting her instantly. A player without equipment was more fragile than a mob.

The Japanese players near the magic knight laughed at the sight.

……

Chinese players kept dying as the bombardment continued. After Floating Ice City had been abandoned, all the maps within its borders no longer counted as China soil. Therefore, players who died here could still rejoin the Nation War because they were technically fighting on a free, neutral territory. And when you died on a neutral territory like this, you would be resurrected at the nearest graveyard. That was how this tragedy came to be.

Chiang!

I unsheathed the Purple Ying Sword and hit them from behind wordlessly. Firing three flaming auras into the shield formation, I shouted, "Die, you animals!"

Boom boom boom!

The Japanese magic knights were completely caught off-guard, so Burning Blade Slash one-shot almost everyone. At least a hundred players dropped dead at the same time.

Charging without pause, I cut down everyone I passed by while activating Great Earth Transformation at the same time. Then, I raised my left hand and fired a dozen or so golden seals into the sky, hitting countless enemy players in a second. Tail Feather players stood too close to one another, so they became the perfect sacrifice for my skill. Hundreds of players died, and my HP returned to full in an instant. Again, this Divine General Skill was just too awesome!

I was alone, but I and my Phantom Wolf King managed to wreak havoc among the Tail Feather Palace players anyway. The red wolf dished out Claws of the Storm again and again and made life hell for the Purple Grape City players as well.

I cut a path to the center until I finally reached the naked girls. Deeply pained by their plight, I cut down a magic knight in front of me while shouting at the girls, "Are you stupid? Log out now! Leave this place to me!"

The girls stared at me blankly for a moment. Then, a couple of them broke into tears and cried out, "Is it you, Lu Chen? Is it really you?"

I nodded. "I apologize for arriving late and letting Floating Ice City down, but you really should log out now and come back only after the Nation War is over. If you remain, you’ll only be a burden to me. Levels can always be regained, so please log out already!"

While saying this, I lowered my center of gravity and launched Coiling Dragon Revolution in front of me. The cyclone moved in an arc across the valley grounds, engulfed many players and killed them all. The Japanese players who were killed were teleported back to the main city they set as their resurrection point, Purple Grape City. It was because their city was still standing, and because they were in a Nation War. On the other hand, the Twelve Musicians players were currently designated as vagrants and would have to submit an application to enter Sky City.

Pa!

After I caught the Purple Ying Sword, I immediately galloped up the hill to one side. I maintained a random, zigzagging path to avoid getting hit by the Shock Arrows as much as possible. I didn’t have Beiming Xue, He Yi, Lian Xin or Murong Mingyue to provide me with support this time, so I could easily die here if I was stunned even once.

Swhoosh!

After I reached the top of the hill, I turned back and fired Burning Blade Slash. At the same time, I shifted to the right, raised the Dragon God Shield and activated Ghost Deity Shield, successfully nullifying a volley of Shock Arrows. Having bought a bit of time for myself, I fired another round of Ancient Seals through my sword and into the enemy’s archer and mage parties!

Boom boom boom!

Countless players were one-shot by Divine General Skill, but a large majority of the enemy mages remained standing. Their Magic Shields prevented them from getting one-shot by even the Ancient Seal. That was fine though. Once the 6-second cooldown Coiling Dragon Revolution was up, I fired it again and killed most of the mages. The reason I was so successful was because Coiling Dragon Revolution ignored Magic Shields, and the Ghost Chariot Card granted me armor penetration. There was absolutely no reason for me not to be able to slaughter them.

I took a moment to glance at the valley. Thankfully, the girls were finally teleporting away to safety.

……

Swhoosh!

Suddenly, a red light flashed next to my Armored Ice Qilin Horse. It was a Level 184 assassin attempting to ambush me. Thankfully, I had activated Dark Pupils a long time ago and noticed him before he acted!

I lowered my sword a bit and parried his dagger easily. Then, I used War Crush and one-shot him.

Breaking into another gallop to avoid the enemy’s attacks, I dropped a couple of Icy Cyclone Domains behind me, dealing damage and disrupting their formation a little. The Phantom Wolf King was also wrecking havoc behind enemy lines and assassinating high-level priests and mages specifically. Most of the time, it was powerful enough to destroy a shield in two hits and kill the player in one hit. Immortal Rank boss pets were still some of, if not the most powerful pets in the entire game.

Swhoosh!

Suddenly, an arrow came at me so fast that I couldn’t parry it in time. I instinctively raised my shield to block it!

Bang!

Sparks erupted across my shield and actually caused me to stumble three steps to the back. Motherfucker, whoever shot this almost had the same attacking power as Beiming Xue!

I moved my shield away to reveal a murderous expression to my enemies.

At the distance, an archer in red leather armor shot me a smile and said, "As expected of the man who beat Red Maple and became the MVP of the WEL, you are as courageous as you are intelligent. Still, you run a fine line between bravery and recklessness by choosing to charge my guild alone, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand."

I crossed my sword in front of myself and smiled back. "Sun-shooting Bow? I know you. You are the guild leader of Tail Feather Palace and the first or second best archer in Purple Grape City!"

"Thank you for the praise!"

I laughed. "Oh no, I’m not praising you at all. I just thought that I should remember your name and your face when I hang your head around my mount. Despicable bastards who kill defenseless women like you don’t deserve anything positive from me!"

"The arrogance!" Sun-shooting Bow erupted in anger.

I raised my sword and growled, "Arrogance? I’ll show you arrogance, you animal!"

Swhoosh!

Lightning surrounded me as I Thunderous Charged toward him. I fired Burning Blade Slash before I even got close to the enemy!

Chiang chiang chiang!

Burning Blade Slash counted as a dual-property skill, magic and physical, so the shield classes were incapable of withstanding it. The splash damage also dealt a ton of damage to the magic knights and killed them.

However, Sun-shooting Bow reacted super quick and easily Leaped away to safety. He was even able to dodge my follow-up Dragon Slaying Slash. The guy shouted while staring at me, "Immobilize him with Trapping Net, magic knights!"

Swhoosh!

I hurriedly ran in a zigzag pattern while splitting into two. When I looked up and saw a ton of Trapping Nets falling toward me, I hurriedly dodged out of the way and controlled my apparition to do the same thing. The fact that the nets missed me with inches to spare chilled my heart greatly. If even one of them took effect and immobilized me for 7 seconds, the enemy would be able to kill me in two full bombardments!

……

"Kill!"

I suddenly felt the power of Silver Dragon Storm coursing through my sword and sent it washing across the enemies without hesitation. I also commanded my apparition to use Purple Dragon Howl!

Two dragons rocked heaven and earth, turning many players into strewn corpses and the battlefield into a terrible sight to behold.

Bang!

Unfortunately, it was ultimately unrealistic to fight a thousand men alone, and the truth of the saying “two fists cannot beat four hands” was evident not long ago. Shock Arrow hit me and stunned me for 1.75 seconds, and the situation turned critical all of a sudden!

"Kill him now!"

Three magic knights rushed forward and hit my shield with Barrier Break + Triple Slash combo!

Bang!

Another warrior swung his flaming axe at my shield and almost knocked me off my mount. Not done yet, he kicked me in the chest while shouting, "Roll!"

Pa!

Both me and my horse rolled all the way to the valley ground before we managed to climb back to our feet. Once I used Tenacity of the Dead to recover a huge chunk of HP, I urged my mount to jump to the side just in time to dodge a swarm of Galaxy Storms and Spiraling Arrow Blades. At this point, it was looking impossible to keep fighting without sacrificing some levels.