A cool breeze blew across the plains and caused the grass to sway a little. Swallow Ear Canton was situated next to Undead Hills, and at least a million God’s Domain’s players were entrenched at the latter right now. We had no plans of fighting them to the death on Undead Hills, however. They were the locals here, so they had to know the terrain far better than any of us. The obviously superior strategy here was to attack Swallow Ear Canton directly and force God’s Domain to engage us on the plains.

……

The ground trembled beneath our cavalry’s hooves. Our 14k-strong Dragonlight Cavalry and 5k+ Dragonlight Archers had fought several fierce battles and slain countless, but our losses were minimal up until this point. We had lost single players, but none of our military units had been lost so far, so we were fully capable of assuming the forward position of this war. The moment we began the assault on Swallow Ear Canton, Purple Grape City was sure to dispatch their strongest force as well. As the saying goes, good steel should be used to make the blade of a weapon.

We stopped about two kilometers away from Swallow Ear Canton. Waiting in front of our formation, He Yi waved her spear once and said quietly, "Third uncle, please set up our war drums!"

"Yes, guild leader!"

The representative of our production players, third uncle, responded with a beaming smile before giving the order. A group of cloth-armored production players immediately rushed forward and took out all sorts of strangely shaped materials from their bag. They worked as 10-man parties, and a bit of tinkering later, they created a red drum that let out a red ripple when it was complete. It affected every allied player within a 1000-yard radius.

Ding~!

System Notice: You are buffed by Bloodfiend War Drum. Increases Attack by 10%, attack speed by 5%, movement speed by 3%, and Defense by 5%! This buff automatically disappears if you leave its 1000-yard range!

……

"Holy shit…"

Purple Marquis goggled at He Yi in disbelief. "Guild leader From Water, does… does this buff apply to all Chinese players? These buffs are absolutely amazing!"

He Yi nodded. "Mn."

Luo River God of the Capital asked smilingly, "Why didn’t you use it earlier, sister? We might’ve taken down the Impassable Great Wall much sooner and lost much less men…"

He Yi shrugged helplessly. "I would, Sister Wang Luo, but the requirements for the Bloodfiend War Drum to take effect are extremely stringent. For starters, it can only be produced by a Rank 10 territory. Two, it can only be erected on a completely flat terrain with no elevation or depression on the ground within 1000 yards. This means that it’s usable only on very specific maps like this one."

Stranger of Three Lifetimes said smilingly, "Well, better late than never. The idiots from Purple Grape City are in for a treat when they meet us on the battlefield again."

"Yeah!"

He Yi smiled back.

……

Very soon, under He Yi and Xu Yang’s leadership, our guild had set up around 20 or so Bloodfiend War Drums on the battlefield and spread the buff to a large part of the plains. I had no doubt that our side would possess the superior stats when the battle began. Also, Purple Grape City had no idea about the effects of the Bloodfiend War Drum. I couldn’t wait to see their faces when they engaged us.

Speaking of Purple Grape City, I shot a glance at Undead Hills and saw no movement from the enemy at all.

I sucked in a deep breath and asked everyone, "Does anyone have an idea how the enemy will want to face us?"

"I don’t know…" Hot and Sour Noodles shook his head.

Moonkiss blinked once before replying, "It doesn’t look like God’s Domain is making a move. Red Maple may be staying out of this plains battle."

Luo River God of the Capital agreed, "It wouldn’t be a surprise. Red Maple is an extremely calculative man. He won’t allow his remaining 100k Wildfire Riders to die here."

Beiming Xue pointed to the distance. "Time’s up, everyone. Here they come!"

"Mn!"

Swallow Ear Canton had a total of four gates, and all four of them opened to admit a ton of red-named cavalry and ranged players. We actually didn’t recognize a large majority of their cavalry troops, and even their archers looked very different from usual.

The ground trembled beneath their movement. A while later, cavalry troops riding war horses with skin as red as a burning sky entered our vision. The riders were clad in scaly armor that looked fairly tough, and almost all of them were close to Level 180!

"Damn!"

Li Chengfeng swore as he clenched his fists. "I recognize them! They’re called the Fiery Scale Cavalry, and they’re the ace cavalry of the second best guild of Purple Grape City, Era of Strife! They number around 170k , and the guy standing at the front is a Level 192 warrior called Copper Spear, also their guild leader. Tsk tsk, they sure think highly of us. To think that they would send the second best guild in the Japan server to fight us as well!"

"That’s not all…" Stranger of Three Lifetimes pointed her scepter to the east. "See that? That’s the true threat we have to watch out for…"

Dust clouds appeared from the horizon. It was another group of cavalry riding toward us. They rode what looked like black bucks, but with exceptionally sharp horns and a savage-looking face. Their riders were covered in metal armor from head to toe, and they either wielded longswords or blades. Their guild symbol was a bird.

"Fuck! The Giant Buck Cavalry…"

I grinded my teeth before explaining, "I know this one because they are quite notorious on the forums. They’re the main cavalry of the third strongest guild of Purple Grape City, Asuka Period. The Giant Buck is just a Level 165 Spirit Rank mount, but what they lack in quality, they make up in quantity. As far as I’m aware, there are over 400k of them in total. It was why even Red Maple was wary of them. This is going to be a hard fight, people. Nearly all of Purple Grape City’s elites are here!"

Gui Guzi raised his spear and chuckled. "Hehe, this is good. I don’t know about you guys, but I hate strategic warfare. I prefer riding on the plains and engaging my enemies head-on!"

I nodded and began issuing orders, "All riders, prepare to receive the enemy! Bards, prioritize your full buffs on the Dragonlight Cavalry, Dragonlight Archers and Kui Dragon Cavalry. Remember, as the buffer you get to share 25% of the contribution points of whatever they kill, so don’t skimp on it!"

The second I finished saying this, Pure Love waved her scepter and dropped a ton of seventh-promotion buffs on me, increasing my Attack, Defense and HP by almost 50%. As the girl accrued more and more Tactics, her buffs also became more and more powerful. She absolutely deserved her title as the number one bard of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls.

Xu Yang also ordered, "Dragonlight Cavalry, Cyan Tiger Cavalry, prepare to head out! The rest of you, form shield formations, defend our army, and be prepared to support your allies at any moment! Mages, archers, get ready as well! We will not stop until this battle is over!"

At the back, a tactician clad in cyan robes and wielding a dark red fan was buffing the stats of everyone in his party by 100%, an effect no one else in the guild could emulate. The smiling tactician was of course Lu Buyi.

"Buyi!" I yelled.

"I’m here, Lu Chen!"

"I leave the command of the shielders to you! I trust you’ll be able to protect our main camp?"

"Yeah, no problem!"

……

Almost a hundred Chinese guilds gathered on the plains, and everyone was actively commanding their troops and making their final preparations before the battle. Righteousness, Purple Lily, Peach Garden, Blazing Hot Lips, The Monarch Descends, Baidicheng and more had mobilized their cavalry, and it only took a moment before an army of 5 million cavalrymen was gathered on the plains. This war was destined to enter the epics.

The enemy’s troop count rivaled ours, however. The fact that Era of Strife and Asuka Period hadn’t participated in the defense of the Impassable Great Wall meant that they had come to an agreement beforehand. God’s Domain would defend the first defense line, while Era of Strife and Asuka Period would defend the second defense line. To this end, Era of Strife and Asuka Period put practically everything they had on the battlefield!

There were also a great number of big or small guilds that totaled up to 7 million+ cavalry at least. Japan was a technologically advanced country with a huge population base and a crazy amount of gamers. They wouldn’t have dared to dream of conquering the three major cities of the Center otherwise.

……

I cocked my head and briefly checked out our troops. The entire frontline was crawling with Dragonlight Cavalry, Kui Dragon Cavalry and other cavalry troops. Elite players such as Lin Yixin, Eyes Like Water, Come See The Snow Tonight, Purple Wind Chime, Indigo Collar and more were present as well. The elites of China’s three main cities were gathered here. All they lacked now was an order.

Eyes Like Water looked at me and asked, "When are we attacking, Lu Chen?"

I pointed at the Bloodfiend War Drum with a smile, "We attack when they get within 2000 yards of us[1], of course! There’s no reason to fight outside of it, is there?"

"Heehee, okay!"

……

At the distance, one man emerged from the line of cavalry troops. He was the guild leader of Era of Strife, Copper Spear. He had a pair of scars on his face that gave him a savage expression, and his muscles seemed to be bulging with violence. He raised his sword savagely and shouted, "These fuckers have penetrated our proud Impassable Great Wall, and now they’re thinking of invading our homes! Do I even need to say anything more, brothers and sisters? Kill them all!"

Following right behind Era of Strife was Asuka Period’s hundreds of thousands of Giant Buck Cavalrymen. Japan’s millions-strong cavalry had officially begun their assault!

……

When it was time, I raised the Purple Ying Sword and shouted, "Did we start this war? No! Did we lose Floating Ice City to the guizi’s ambition? Yes! These guizi want to devour us all, and so we fight not for justice, but for vengeance! Show them our fury, brothers and sisters! Kill!!"

With that, China’s cavalry troops took off and charged toward the enemy, the 5-star red flags merging together into a red sea. It painted a stark contrast to Purple Grape City’s red-and-white flag.

A moment later, we slammed into the enemy while the power of our bards and Bloodfiend War Drum coursed through our veins.

Pu pu pu…

Spears thrust into flesh and exited in a shower of blood. Swords slashed across necks and caused an even greater shower of blood. Riders clashed and fell everywhere one looked. Everything including life and death was running in accordance with the laws of power.

1. So what you’re saying Lu Chen is that the drums are set up 1000 yards in front of y’all, not protected.