It wasn’t long before Cute Little Naughty entered stealth mode, the vines shivering unnaturally to every bit of movement. Soon, hundreds of stealthed assassins were climbing the vines as well.

"When are we going?" Gui Guzi looked like he couldn’t wait to get some action himself.

I smiled placatingly at him and said, "There’s no hurry. We can climb after the assassins have taken out the enemies!"

"Mn."

……

About half an hour later, Cute Little Naughty sent me a message: "It’s done, big brother. There were about a hundred Cyan Earth City players on top of the mountain, but we Blinded and killed them all. I don’t think they even saw who killed them."

I smiled praisingly. "Well done, Little Naughty! Leave two thousand players at the top of the mountain and send everyone else down to scout the area. Make sure you check the world map as you move. Sky Ridge is on the way to Ice River Canton, and it’s about 5 kilometers in length and breadth. Take out any lone Purple Grape City or Cyan Earth City group you find, and avoid any thousand-man parties. If you discover a big army, notify me immediately and send me its coordinates."

"Got it. See you later!"

"Mn. Do your best!"

……

Chiang!

I returned my sword to its sheath and grabbed a vine. "It’s our turn to dismount and climb, people. The cliff is only between 200 to 400 meters tall, so don’t worry about it too much. If you’re afraid of heights, just don’t look down and you should be fine. Once we reach the top, stand by, await orders and don’t move about carelessly."

Everyone nodded in unison. "Yessir."

"Let’s go!"

After giving the signal, I pulled myself up, climbing the vine with great speed. My super-high Strength made the entire thing a field trip.

Beiming Xue was even faster than me, however. Like a beautiful fairy, she climbed up the cliff with incredible deftness before looking down on me with a playful smile on her face. She said, "I’m faster than you, big bro…"

In response, I stared at her flapping cloak and grinned. "So, you’re wearing pink today…"

"Big bro!"

Beiming Xue blushed like an apple before returning to her climb. Unfortunately, both her and the godly sight disappeared in the blink of an eye.

The snow fell endlessly above our heads, and the cold wind felt like knives cutting against my skin. However, the pain gave way to excitement the moment I thought of the big raid we were about to pull.

Pa!

It wasn’t long before I had climbed to the top and stood at the edge of the cliff. The snowstorm here was even stronger, and visibility was reduced to just five meters or so. I had to rely on the coordinates on the minimap to confirm everyone’s positions.

Behind me, the Dragonlight Cavalry and Dragonlight Archers climbed to the top and moved away to avoid crowding the entrance. Contrary to our imaginations, this part of Sky Ridge was surprisingly spacious. Sky Ridge was an unexploited map whose existence most people weren’t even aware of. It was no wonder that it was used as a set piece to gain an advantage in this war.

I walked to the opposite side of the cliff and looked down. Again, it was at least a hundred meters above ground level and 90 degrees steep, meaning that we had to climb down using the vines again.

A while later, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, Xu Yang, Du Thirteen and more joined me and stared at the vast, foreign forest beneath us. Li Chengfeng smiled a little and said, "This has to be the legendary Lost Forest, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah, this is the Lost Forest that surrounds Ice River Canton, and Ice River Canton is the northern gate that stands in our way to Purple Grape City. The only way to get there is to take down this gate first."

Chaos Moon blinked once before asking, "Breeze and Rain and his thirty thousand cavalrymen infiltrated Sky City through this map, didn’t they?"

"Yes. There is no other way," I said smilingly.

Li Chengfeng also wore a grin on his face as he said, "Now I understand what you’re planning. The reason you sent the eighth subguild to ambush all lone players around Sky Ridge is to give the enemy a taste of their own medicine!"

I laughed. "Correct. If Cyan Earth City can exploit this map for their own purposes, we can too. However, I don’t plan to just knock on doors and run away like a little kid. No, I’m going to teach the enemy a lesson they will not forget!"

Chaos Moon stared at me. "What are you planning?"

Gui Guzi interrupted, "What else? I bet we’re here to destroy Ice River Canton’s teleportation formation and kill off all reinforcements who try to come to its rescue just like Red Maple did to us earlier…"

I clenched my fists before declaring, "No, that’s not it. Don’t forget that we’re only ten thousand strong if you discount the eighth subguild. No, I have one plan only, and that is to attack Ice River Canton in Regicide Mode, kill their king, and abandon it! This way, Purple Grape City’s north side will be completely open!"

Gui Guzi sucked in a deep breath. "Holy shit, that’s ruthless, Boss Broken Halberd! Just the way I like it, hehe. You’re right, this is the way it has to be to make up for the abandonment of Floating Ice City!"

Xu Yang stabbed his broadsword on the ice beneath our feet before saying, "That is an amazing strategy, but if we’re going to pull something like this, why don’t we just occupy Ice River Canton outright? This way, we’ll be able to teleport Sky City’s players directly into Ice River Canton. After that, all we need to do is overcome Fallen Moon Ridge to reach Purple Grape City."

I shook my head. "I’ve considered that, but it’s just too risky and uncertain. To occupy a city, you need to fulfill two conditions: one, you need a sufficient number of players. Two, you need to kill off all enemy players inside. These two conditions alone are something we cannot realistically pull off. Even if we succeeded somehow, it would take 24 hours for the map to refresh. We cannot afford to waste a whole day twiddling our thumbs when Nation War lasts 72 hours only. In fact, a whole day has passed since the start of the China-Japan Nation War, so we only have 48 hours or so left."

Xu Yang nodded. "You’re right. I hadn’t thought things through…"

……

"Well, I think it’s almost time. Let us descend, people!"

"Mn!"

I grabbed a vine with both hands and slid down at a controlled speed. Unfortunately, the vines had needles that pierced my hands as I fell, and boy did it hurt a lot. I supposed that it was one of the necessary prices of the surprise assault!

My foot hit solid ground after sliding around 150 meters or so. The wind was weaker here, and a sea of green greeted me when I turned around to face the lush Lost Forest.

I walked forward a bit while waiting for the Dragonlight Cavalry and Dragonlight Archers to land. After everyone was ready, I summoned the Armored Ice Qilin Horse and ordered, "Mount up, people!"

Everyone did as I say and unsheathed their weapons, ready to do combat at a moment’s notice.

At the same time, Cute Little Naughty sent me a message: "Vice guild leader big bro, we’ve more or less cleared out the way as you ordered, but there is a 20k-strong army of Elephant City cavalry heading toward Sky Ridge right now. They’re moving from (10239, 30112) to (9, 30112), and they’re somewhere in the middle right now."

"Got it!"

I brought up the world map and investigated the cavalry troops’ course for a bit. Then, I plotted our attack course to avoid the enemy cavalry and, hopefully, reach Ice River Canton without encountering anyone else. The course looked like a giant S on the map.

I didn’t bother to share the course with the others. I simply rode down the mountain and ordered, "Stay close to me, and don’t fall behind!"

"Yessir!"

The ground rumbled as ten thousand cavalrymen followed closely behind me. I sent Cute Little Naughty one final order, "Little Naughty, stealth into Ice River Canton and destroy all the magic formations! You may stealth back to the city after that!"

Cute Little Naughty gladly accepted the order. "Got it. Be careful out there!"

"Yeah."

……

It took us almost half an hour to get out of Lost Forest. We ignored all the mobs we encountered along the way because our objective here was to invade Ice River Canton, not grinding.

The moment we emerged from the forest, a tier 2 city about 5 km away from us immediately entered our view. A lot of Japanese players were grinding mobs on the plains, but they were no threat to us since the highest-leveled player I spotted was just Level 170+ or so.

Chiang!

I abruptly unsheathed the Purple Ying Sword and pointed toward the city. I growled, "Full speed ahead, and don’t bother with the noobs! Our goal is the palace!"

Everyone nodded and rode at full speed. We rode in a triangular formation, and I was the spearhead of the triangle. Just as I ordered, no one tried to attack the grinding players. It was beneath us to kill noobs anyway.

The Dragonscale Beasts were so fast that the players on the walls discovered us only after we were tens of meters away from their gates. They panicked, "What the hell? Where did these Chinese riders come from!?"

"Kill!"

I abruptly dug my feet into the Armored Ice Qilin Horse’s sides and caused it to let out a loud neigh. After I blasted a group of low-level players who attempted to block the gate to hell, I summoned the Phantom Wolf King and sent it running toward the city. It immediately greeted the enemies with Purgatory Storm and Claw of the Storm.

"Close the gate now!" a group of Japanese players shouted.

Buzz!

Unfortunately for them, the Purple Ying Sword chose this moment to glow brightly, delighting me greatly. Here I go!

Boom!

I fired a Universe Break straight at the falling portcullis. The huge damage number besides, the Purple Ying Sword’s Mountain Crush effect caused a giant hole about two meters in radius to appear on it, effectively rendering it useless. The players on the walls could only stare at us dumbly like someone who was watching Tokyo-Hot.

……

Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh!

I fired a dozen or so Ancient Seals into the enemy and made Ice River Canton’s players feel like they were ascending to heaven. Even better, Li Chengfeng activated Great Earth Transformation and Battle Soul Possession before yelling, "Whirlwind Slash!"

Boom boom boom!

The dragon warrior turned into a living hurricane and dove into a crowd. Everyone standing in our path was killed just like that.

"Fuck, the Lu Chen + Li Chengfeng duo is just insane…" Xu Yang said with a grin.

Chaos Moon laughed. "Time to earn some contribution points, people!"

The Dragonlight Cavalrymen weren’t the only ones who were cutting down all the players who tried to stop us. Beiming Xue and the Dragonlight Archers were also shooting Spiraling Arrow Blades and Skypiercers to our flanks to minimize the number of players who could reach us. Honestly, this was looking more like a bloodbath than a sneak attack!