We ate breakfast at the hotel’s restaurant. The buffet cost 25 yuan per person.

While eating, I called Cute Little Naughty and got through a couple of beeps later.

"Yes, vice leader?" Cute Little Naughty answered with a yawn. She clearly wasn’t fully awake yet.

"Well, for starters, you can wake up first."

"Right, right. What is this about? I can’t remember the last time you called me in person!" Cute Little Naughty asked with a laugh.

I replied, "No time to explain. Get up, call your corps commanders and tell them to log into the game as soon as possible. I’m mobilizing the entire eighth subguild today, so make it snappy!"

"Mn, okay!"

……

After I hung up, Chaos Moon asked while tapping her full boiled egg with a spoon, "We’ve never actively mobilized the eighth subguild before. Have you finally found a use for our assassin squad?"

I smiled. "As the saying goes, you train an army for a thousand days to use it for an hour. And it’s time to put them to use."

"And what are you going to do with several ten thousand assassins exactly?"

"It’s a secret. You’ll know when the time comes!"

"Hmph…"

Chaos Moon snorted before passing me egg fried rice. "Eat this too. Heaven knows when we’ll get to eat our next meal. Also, remember to limit your water intake…"

"Yeah."

Every professional player knew how to manage their water intake one way or another. Too much water meant a bladder full of piss too early into the game, and the enemy wouldn’t give you the chance to log out of the game to use the toilet.

After breakfast was over, I returned to my room and took care of everything there was to take care of. Then, I logged into the game!

Swhoosh!

I looked to the plains after I reappeared on the hill outside White Rose Fortress. Blades were swinging, arrows were whistling, and even rocks were flying as the players of China and Japan waged war against one another.

The battle had continued for almost 10 hours since I logged out, but it still wasn’t over yet. It was obvious that both sides were just trying to wear each other thin, and that neither side had dispatched their true elites yet. It was so that they could be used when it was truly necessary.

Just outside Frost Forest, Candle Dragon’s cavalry had arrived and positioned themselves into a square formation. Next to them was Warsky Alliance’s almost 100000-strong Frostscale Cavalry, as well as Purple Lily and Snowy Cathaya’s elite cavalries. Everyone was making preparations for the eventual battle, but no one had actually engaged the enemy yet. In this case, we were all of the same mind. We were waiting for the moment where the scales of war tipped in one’s favor or another.

A while later, He Yi, Beiming Xue, Lian Xin, Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng and more logged into the game as well.

"So?"

Li Chengfeng asked, "Did you ask us all to come online because you have a new strategy?"

"Mn."

I nodded with a smile. "Yes, but it’s on a smaller scale than you might expect. I’m taking only 5000 Dragonlight Cavalry and 5000 Dragonlight Archers with me this time. Everyone else is to remain at White Rose Fortress and standby for battle."

"Oh? That is pretty few. Are you planning a sneak attack?" He Yi asked.

"Yep." I glanced at the pass between Dragonbone Mountain Range and White Rose Fortress before continuing, "The enemy’s natural defense is impassable, and a frontal assault won’t surprise the enemy. Therefore, a sneak attack is the only way to truly turn this Nation War around. Someone mentioned on the forums that Elephant City’s players are marching across Soaring Flame Desert to reinforce Purple Grape City. If Japan and India manage to unite their forces, it will be incredibly difficult to defeat them."

Gui Guzi declared simply, "No need to explain anything, Boss Broken Halberd. I will go wherever you go!"

I nodded. "Heh, of course. That being said, we need a leader figure to stay behind at White Rose Fortress to command our players. For obvious reasons, they will never obey another guild."

"Who’s going to do that?" He Yi’s eyes widened.

I gave it some thought before saying, "Eve, you should stay behind and coordinate things with Lin Yixin. You’re the only one who can really command our brutes besides me anyway. I’ll take Li Chengfeng, Little Gui, Chaos Moon and High Fighting Spirits with me. You can have Lian Xin, Moon Dew and sis."

"Really? But I’m one of the Dragonlight Cavalry too, aren’t I?" He Yi looked at me almost beggingly.

I immediately walked up to her and put an arm around her shoulder. "We’ll be back before you know it."

"Okay…" He Yi wasn’t a dramatic woman, so she nodded immediately and said, "I’ll be waiting right here at White Rose Fortress for you all to return!"

"Mn!"

……

After that, I began mustering my troops. "Top 5000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen of our power ranking, step forward! Dragonlight Archers, all of you will be coming with me!"

It wasn’t long before an orderly formation of ten thousand appeared in front of me. I looked at my generals and said, "All Famous Generals, bring items with invincibility frames if you have them"

Gui Guzi exclaimed in surprise, "Really? But the only invincibility frame property I have is on Purple Gold–grade wristguards. Are you sure about this?"

"Mn. Place it in your bag for now."

Li Chengfeng asked, "What on earth are we doing, Lu Chen?"

I smiled. "Long story short, this operation will be a brutal one, one we may not return from. That’s why I want all of you to bring items with invincibility properties. When the time comes, I want you to equip them, activate the invincibility skill and teleport back to the city. This way, you won’t die in the enemy’s main city and be out of the war completely."

"Ah, got it!"

"Is everyone ready? Very good, let’s go. Our destination is Sky City (28994, 28378)!"

"What the fuck? This coordinate is so far from here!"

"As it should be!"

At the same time, I sent the same message to Cute Little Naughty, "Little Naughty, please take the eighth subguild to (28994, 28378). Don’t tell them what their mission is, just take them there, and I’ll deal with the rest later."

"Okay, vice leader big bro!" Cute Little Naughty answered obediently.

……

As we rode past the other guilds, Warsky immediately raised his sword and asked, "Hey, Lu Chen! Where are you guys going?"

I answered with a bright smile, "Oh, just a bit of hunting. It’s boring here, don’t you agree?"

Warsky: "..."

Hot and Sour Noodles chuckled. "Hmph, the boy must have cooked up some devious scheme again…"

Candlelight Shadow: "..."

October Rain’s eyes shone with envy. "True, Lu Chen is always able to… sigh, if only our guild leader was as brave and as smart as he is, we would’ve been able to do something against God’s Domain during the battle of Floating Ice City…"

Warsky’s face turned purple. "Are you saying I’m dumb, Little Rain?"

October Rain shrugged once before teasing him, "Warsky, you’re definitely a smart guy in your own right, but only in civil wars. Frankly, you lack decisiveness and the ability to come up with weird strategies when your opponent is a foreign force…"

Warsky: "..."

Blue Sky Scar let out a sneer before saying, "Hmph, no matter how ‘amazing’ Ancient Sword is, they’re only ten thousand strong. They can’t possibly do much with so few troops…"

God’s Dance: "Maybe. Maybe not…"

Candlelight Shadow: "..."

Song of Cloud and Water was also staring at our backs and sighing. "Uu, if only Lu Chen listened to me and joined Soul Battle Robes back then…"

"Hmph, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls…" Song of Ice and Fire’s eyes turned steely for a moment, but a moment later he smiled and said, "They are an interesting bunch for sure."

God Bone shot him a look. "You’re not looking to join Ancient Sword, are you?"

Song of Ice and Fire raised an eyebrow. "Do you really think I’m that type of person?"

"I know you’re not, but I do know you’re ambitious enough to join a guild with greater potential."

"Don’t worry, once I’ve made up my mind I’m not changing it. Also, the first miss is here. There’s no chance I’m leaving Soul Battle Robes."

"Mn…"

……

We didn’t travel at full speed. In fact, I purposely ordered everyone to maintain about 25% of our usual marching speed. Almost an hour later, we finally reached the foot of Dragonbone Mountain Range. Another trek through the forest later, we arrived at our destination coordinates.

"Halt!"

I raised my sword to stop the march before looking up. The peaks of Dragonbone Mountain Range were covered in snow, and the map in front of us was none other than Sky Ridge itself. Normally, the peaks of Dragonbone Mountain Range were absolutely impassable. Sky Ridge was an exception, however. Unfortunately, Hot and Sour Noodles hadn’t been able to find this place despite my advice last night.

Less than ten minutes later, a huge group of assassins appeared in front of us. I smiled. They were none other than our eighth subguild.

Cute Little Naughty was wielding a green dagger and wearing an exquisite leather armor that wrapped nicely around her body. She shot me a smile and said, "We’re here, vice leader big bro."

"Alright. Time to scale the mountains, people!"

"Okay?" Cute Little Naughty blinked once before asking. "Didn’t the system seal off the peaks of Dragonbone Mountain Range already? Why are we climbing up there?"

"I’ll tell you once we get up there."

"Okay!"

……

It took us only about 15 minutes to ride up to the peaks. The top of Dragonbone Mountain Range was a frigid, snowy region. Directly ahead us was a 90-degrees vertical ice cliff that stretched all the way up to infinity and beyond… except one. More accurately, it was covered in green vines that stretched all the way to the top.

"Fuck…" Li Chengfeng muttered, "Let me guess: you want us to climb over Dragonbone Mountain Range using these vines and travel all the way to the heart of Purple Grape City?"

"Correct."

"Heavens, it takes balls of steel to come up with a plan like this and actually execute it!"

"Let’s go!"

I looked at the assassins of the eighth subguild and ordered, "Assassins, you go first, and make sure you’re stealthed. If you discover any Cyan Earth City, Elephant City or Purple Grape City players in the vicinity, kill them all, but try not to alarm the others nearby. They mustn’t realize what we’re really here for!"

"Okay!"

Cute Little Naughty nodded, returned her dagger to the sheath around her waist, and grabbed a single vine. After giving it a test and confirming that it was going to hold, she started climbing. As she climbed, her cloak flapped around and occasionally graced us with flashes of her long, pale legs. It was a rare sight to say the least.

Pa!

Chaos Moon slapped Du Thirteen on the shoulder once before saying, "Dude, can you not stare like a laser gun, please?"

Du Thirteen wiped away his saliva before asking, "Do I look like that type of person?"

"Pooh! Yes you do!"

"..."