"Oh no, there’s too many of them…"

He Yi looked to the north while gritting her teeth. "Is Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance and Pop Culture playing mahjong together at Soaring Flame Desert or something? First they let Nation Guardian through, now it’s Cyan Beast? Are they trying to kill us?!"

Gui Guzi said, "The Divine Elephant Cavalry is too tough to rout immediately. Is there anyone who can hold off Breeze and Rain’s Beast King Cavalry until we’re ready? If only they weren’t Level 175 Spirit Rank boss mounts…"

Chaos Moon bit her lips. "That’s not the worst of it. Look at how many players there are on the plains. The Beast King Cavalry alone is over 200k strong, their total cavalry is at least one million strong, and their total troops are close to ten million strong. This means that they are at least as numerous as us. Fuck…"

I pondered for a moment before saying, "We can’t rely on Hegemon Palace, Gods of Destruction and Mad Dragon to halt Cyan Beast’s advance. It’ll just be the death of them. Maybe… maybe we can…"

Xu Yang’s eyes widened. "No! Absolutely not! We already lost a ton of men fighting the Divine Elephant Cavalry. If we fight Cyan Beast next, our entire guild will be annihilated! Absolutely not!"

I broke into a grin. "I never said we should fight them. I was going to say that it’s time we request for reinforcements…"

"Fuck you…"

I sent a message to Hot and Sour Noodles. "Uncle, we’re spent. Tell Blazing Hot Lips, The Monarch Descends, Baidicheng, Purple Lily and Peach Garden to come down and fight Cyan Beast. If you refuse, we’ll teleport back to Sky City and quit the siege!"

Hot and Sour Noodles replied with a sweating emoji. "Got it, we’re coming. Purple Grape City is on the brink of collapse anyway, the second-rate guilds should be able to deal with them while we’re gone!"

"Mn!"

……

Suddenly, the western gate of Purple Grape City collapsed under the firepower of the White Marsh Catapults and battering rams. An instant later, countless Chinese cavalrymen charged into the city. While God’s Domain was resisting fiercely, they didn’t have the numbers necessary to turn the tides of war, not to mention that there were still 14 hours left before the Nation War was officially over. It was looking more and more like Purple Grape City was going to lose for sure!

A short while later, the elite players of the Center jumped to the ground from the walls, took a moment to replenish themselves, and rushed to our aid. Snowy Cathaya, Blazing Hot Lips, The Monarch Descends, Purple Lily and Peach Garden were among them as well.

However, Breeze and Rain’s Beast King Cavalry was only a few minutes away from the city now.

I gripped the Purple Ying Sword tighter and looked at Breeze and Rain riding toward us from the north. The strength of India’s No. 2 had already been proven during the WEL. Whether or not his ability to command was as strong as his ability to duel remained to be seen, but I wouldn’t count on us being lucky today.

It so happened that there were a hundred thousand Chinese players just up ahead of us. They were Sword Lord of Jianghu, and Now and Forever was standing in the middle of them.

I shouted, "Sword Lord of Jianghu, stall the enemy and buy some time for us to organize our forces! We only need ten minutes!"

Now and Forever snorted coldly and said nothing. The other corps commander,Amber Pupils the Dark Swordsman sneered, "Are you trying to use us as cannon fodder? Don’t even think about it! We’re not idiots, we won’t do something that foolish!"

I was furious, but I forced myself to hold my silence.

To my surprise, Dominating Heaven Blade, the guild leader of Gods of Destruction suddenly moved past me. He looked mighty scary the way his battle scar twisted with fury, "You shameless fucks! How many times have Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls played the cannon fodder since the battle of White Rose Fortress? Your life is too precious to risk, but Ancient Sword’s isn’t? Guild of the China VR department my ass! You’re just a bunch of cowards with nothing inside your pants! If you’re too cowardly to fight Cyan Beast, then Gods of Destruction will! We may die, but we will never be as cowardly as you are!”

Dominating Heaven Blade then raised his blade and shouted, "Brothers of Gods of Destruction, the final battle is upon us! We may be annihilated, but we will be scorned by no one! Let’s show the ball-less fucks of Sword Lord of Jianghu what is a man’s bravery and what it means to die without regrets!"

Dominating Heaven Blade’s passionate cry inspired his men to mount up and ride to his side immediately. Gods of Destruction had fought without pause since the first day of the Nation War, and their casualties were absolutely disgusting. They had begun the war with almost a million players, and now there were less than a hundred thousand of them left.

It wasn’t long before 30k mounted players and their last remaining archers, mages, priests and other classes rallied behind Dominating Heaven Blade. He then activated his Knight General and shouted, "For a man’s pride! Kill the enemy!"

I hadn’t said anything from the beginning until the end, but this was the first time I felt true respect toward Gods of Destruction. Although we had fought many times in the past, they still stood out in the most critical moment and played cannon fodder for us. If they didn’t, Cyan Beast would’ve had a direct path to our weakest point, our flank and catch us between a rock and a hard place.

On the other hand, Sword Lord of Jianghu was slowly marching away from the frontline and heading toward the west side of Purple Grape City.

……

"Kill!"

Dominating Heaven Blade raised his sword and charged head first into the thick that was the Beast King Cavalry. Dominating Knight God, Dominating Warrior God and more were following right behind him. It took more than just courage to face down Breeze and Rain’s one-million-strong elite cavalry with just 30000 battered and exhausted troops. It took a kind of spirit that any man should strive to possess!

Bang bang bang!

Hundreds of Gods of Destruction riders fell the moment contact was made. The power gap between the two forces was just too much. Breeze and Rain especially was cutting players down left and right like the enemies standing in his way were nothing but air. But despite the battle, he never stopped looking in my direction. It was clear that he was wary of me just like I was wary of him. We both viewed each other as the major obstacle of our battle.

Bloodcurdling screams filled the air. I could do nothing but watch the last remnant of Gods of Destruction be swept away like a boat beneath a tidal wave. Guilt, helplessness and anger washed over me as I muttered, "Go bravely, Gods of Destruction. Don’t worry, we will take revenge for you!"

……

Ten minutes later, the Divine Elephant Cavalry’s struggles had finally ceased. We managed to kill all 100000 Divine Elephant Cavalry, but it came at a great cost to us!

Gui Guzi walked over with the Spear of the Knight God and sucked in a deep breath, "Motherfucker, those goddamned Divine Elephant Cavalrymen were such a pain in the ass to kill. Nearly 2000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen were killed in action, so we only have 3000 left now…"

I nodded. "I’m aware. Unfortunately, we’re going to have to fight Cyan Beast next. I don’t think many of them will be left at the end of this battle…"

Xu Yang smiled. "Hehe, yeah, but we’ve all mentally prepared ourselves, haven’t we?"

I stared at the brothers and sister I had gone through fire and water with and smiled. "Yes. We may die on the battlefield, but what does it matter if we have no regrets?"

They nodded and smiled back.

……

It was at this moment the system rang again—

Ding~!

System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Legendary Brave" (China) killed the Temple Guard, player "Eternal Youth" (India), and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 71282 points!

Ding~!

System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Legendary Brave" (China) killed the Temple Guard, player "Dragonfly Hero" (India), and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 91238 points!

Ding~!

System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Heaven’s Rain" (China) killed the Temple Guard, player "Tears of the Nile" (India), and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 102883 points!

……

Everyone looked in the direction of Final Duel Valley at the same time. Xu Yang said smilingly, "Looks like Li, Heaven’s Rain and Diamond Dust are fighting hard right now. That’s three Temple Guards who were returned to Level 0!"

A bit of sorrow peeked out of He Yi’s pupils, and she looked away as if she couldn’t bear it any longer.

I sighed. "Fuck!"

Lin Yixin asked softly, "What’s wrong, Little Cheat?"

I tightened my grip around the Purple Ying Sword and bowed my head. "If I had a choice, I would rather replace Li Chengfeng, Little Rain and Little Dust…"

She covered my hand with her own and shot me a warm, soothing smile. "I understand your feelings."

I looked at her. "No, you don’t…"

"Of course I do. Gay love is forever, right?"

"Screw you…"

"..."

……

Suddenly, Stranger of Three Lifetimes interrupted us, "Are you guys serious? This is not the time to be flirting! We need to go once the formation is ready, or Gods of Destruction really will be wiped out to the last man! Tsk tsk, that Breeze and Rain is as handsome as he is brutal!"

"I know. Prepare to attack!"

I mounted up and pointed to the front. "This is probably the true final battle. For China’s glory and our pride, defeat is not an option!"

The Armored Ice Qilin Horse started running, and we began charging toward the enemy. Our cavalry count had dwindled to just a million or so, but it couldn’t be helped. Everyone had suffered tremendous losses up until this point. It was simply impossible to muster a charge formation of several million like during the first day of the Nation War.

There was one thing that was puzzling me though. How was Cyan Beast able to come all the way to Purple Grape City looking like they were barely touched by the war? Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance couldn’t actually be playing fucking mahjong at Soaring Flame Desert, right?