I quickly picked up some choice equipment from the floor before summoning the Phantom Wolf King back to its world. I did the same with the Ancient Divine Dragon before using Earth Escape and slipping underground. Once I knew what I was dealing with, I could come up with the appropriate measures. Whatever the case, this obviously wasn’t the time to engage the boss in a fight.

I trudged toward a corner of the nearby hill where it offered an excellent point of view. I was curious to know the players who were strong enough to make their way to this part of this god-forsaken wasteland.

……

The thundering hooves grew louder, and unnatural shadows flitted across the ground. Soon, a huge company of cavalrymen with red names and no main city emblems appeared at this part of the valley. Obviously, they were all unaffiliated players, the natural denizens of Iron Skull Wilderness!

These players were much stronger than the Black Crow Tribe party I had encountered earlier. First, almost everyone was over Level 180 and had undergone their seventh promotion. Second, their equipment was Earth-grade on average, and most of them had at least one or two Heaven-grade items on their person. In a sense, they weren’t too far behind even our Dragonlight Cavalry. I found it difficult to believe that a party like this could exist in this wasteland.

The traveling party abruptly split up to allow a lone rider to ride up to the front. She was a gorgeous woman wearing a white skull on her head and riding a red warhorse. Her body shape was perfect, her features were exquisite, and her eyes burned with fighting spiti. She wore dark gold–colored armor that outlined her 36Es perfectly. Breast size like this rarely appeared among eastern women, so even before looking at her dark blue eyes I was one hundred percent sure that she was a westerner.

I kept quiet as I examined the lines of text above the woman’s head. They stated—

ID: Hickey

Level: 199

Class: Warrior

Guild: None

Position: None

Nationality: None

……

Just like everyone else around her, she was a "Triple None" player who didn’t have a guild or a country to support her. However, she was sitting at an insane Level 199. Currently, the two highest-leveled players in Sky City, Beiming Xue and Lian Xin, were only Level 204. Even Lin Yixin was only Level 203. That this woman was somehow able to grind up to Level 199 despite the resource scarcity was almost unthinkable.

Riding next to Hickey was a Level 197 axe-wielding magic knight. He looked at the floor of equipment and dead mobs and reported with a frown, "Guild leader, it seems that someone has gotten ahead of us. Who’s this motherfucker anyway? I can’t believe someone managed to kill the great undead magus before Sacred Oath!"

Hickey responded with a smile, "No, look to your seven. The boss is still alive. The mobs around the boss are all dead though… Oh wow, they were all minibosses too. Whoever this mysterious group is, they at least have the power to take out all these minibosses by themselves!"

The magic knight shuddered visibly. "Who could it be? It can’t possibly be those idiots from Black Crow Tribe, can it?"

A bit of disdain peeked out of Hickey’s features. "Those clowns are greedy and ruthless, but they absolutely don’t possess the strength to defeat these minibosses. I’m absolutely certain that someone else is behind this!"

A female knight chose this moment to speak up, "Guild leader, I heard that Black Crow Tribe was ambushed just a while ago. They had lost over a thousand players, and their assailant… was just a single player!"

Hickey exclaimed in surprise, "Oh? That is amazing. As far as I’m aware, those crows always operate in hundred-man parties or bigger. Who in the world could perform such a feat?"

The female knight elaborated, "I heard that they’re Chinese, but that’s it…"

Hickey’s eyes widened in shock. "Could it be… he’s here?"

The magic knight asked, "He? Who’s he, guild leader?"

Hickey replied with a trace of displeasure, "Don’t ask me questions I don’t feel like revealing the answer to. Anyway, once our ranged parties have reached us, and our the bards have buffed our frontliners, surround the boss in a ring and prepare to fight. As usual, let’s try to reduce the number of casualties as much as possible. Also, it’s very possible that we aren’t the only players at this place, so keep your eyes open and be ready for anything!"

"Yes, guild leader!"

……

I decided to remain hidden while Hickey and co were waiting for their ranged parties to catch up. My quest was to seal the Zephyr Ironbone Warhorses, not to kill the Great Undead Magus Juve, so there was no reason for me to take unnecessary risks and challenge a party this strong. Of course, I would prefer to kill the boss with my own hands if I could. I hadn’t killed all the minibosses just so that another party could steal the main course from right under my nose.

While waiting, I brought up the official database and searched for the ID "Hickey”. A couple hundred results appeared on the search page, and the ones that caught my eyes were—

Hickey (China): Assassin, LV-165, belonging to the guild "Who Will Fight Me".

Hickey (USA): Warrior, LV-192, belonging to the guild "Hero Alliance".

Hickey (None): Warrior, LV-199, unaffiliated. Dutch. After publicly protesting during the 2017 Dutch general election, she renounced her Dutch citizenship and became a stateless person. In the game, she roams the wasteland and founded an unofficial guild "Sacred Oath”.

……

Found you. There was only one Hickey who was Level 199, and to my surprise she was a stateless person in real life as well. This was a woman whose resolve was completely beyond us normal people. Not anyone had the courage to renounce their citizenship of their own accord.

I looked at Hickey again, and this time I noticed that she had a tiny guild emblem on her shoulder. However, she being an unaffiliated player meant that her ability to expand her guild was extremely limited. It was because there literally wasn’t a high-level NPC in the area that could increase her guild’s rank beyond a certain point. In fact, Sacred Oath was just a Rank 6 guild that could only fit a maximum of 30k players. Take Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls’ main guild for example. We were currently at Rank 8 and could accommodate a total of 100k players. Speaking of which, I heard that my guild had almost accumulated enough experience to upgrade to Rank 9.

I downloaded an internet censorship circumvention software and entered the Europe forums. A bit of searching later, I found what I was looking for. Sacred Oath was a guild of 30k elites, and they hailed from countries all over Europe. In fact, a large majority of them sought out Sacred Oath precisely because Hickey was the guild leader. She had been Netherland’s number one expert, and she was loved enough that people flocked to her cause even after she renounced her citizenship. In fact, some hot-blooded youngsters went as far as to renounce their own citizenship to chase after their goddess.

I gripped my sword tighter and licked my dry lips. Should I attack them? This boss was mine, dammit! I could reveal myself and say to Hickey, "Hey girl, this boss's mine, and the reward’s mine too. I’ll treat you to lunch as compensation someday”, but I had a feeling that she wouldn’t agree to it...

In the end, I decided to remain where I was and wait for an opportunity. Ideally, my skill should be enough for me to land the last hit, nab the boss's equipment, and escape to safety.

……

About ten minutes later, another big group of players entered the valley. They were all seventh-promotion, and they all wore the Sacred Oath guild emblem—a red fist—on their shoulder.

"Guild leader, we’ve cleared out the road. The Corpse Eaters have all been lured elsewhere," reported an assassin walking up to Hickey.

Hickey nodded. "Good job. Now spread out and prepare for the boss fight. Cavalry, I want you Barrier Break the boss and run in ten-man groups. If your HP falls below 40%, then withdraw to safety immediately. Priests, spread out and drop your AoE heals around the boss indiscriminately. I’ll handle the boss's main aggro myself. Let’s kill this boss with minimum casualties, shall we?"

"Yes, guild leader!"

An icy sword by her side, Hickey slowly walked toward the boss with a smile on her face. "A Level 250 Immortal Rank boss, huh? The system sure thinks highly of us. I know I said that we should do this with minimum casualties, but honestly? I don’t think we’re walking away from this without losing anyone."

The Sacred Oath members quickly moved into position. Soon, several thousands cavalrymen had formed their ten-man groups and surrounded the Great Undead Magus Juve’s wooden house completely.

"Ready, go!"

Hickey Charged the moment she gave the go signal. The flaming cone that was her sword pierced the boss's chest before her person even reached it. I was surprised. Her timing was at least as good as Farewell Song’s and Li Chengfeng’s!

159288!

Her attack was pretty impressive as well. Not everyone could deal over 150k damage to an Immortal Rank boss who was 51 levels higher than them.

Behind her, the first ten cavalrymen Charged but failed to land even a single stun. It was the natural result. Considering the level gap, the skill’s chance of success was infinitely close to 0%.

……

"Arrrrrr…"

Great Undead Magus Juve rose to his feet after he awoke from his slumber. Shockingly, the mage at full height was as tall as a cavalryman on a mount. He growled menacingly after gripping his scepter, "Puny humans, how dare you awake me from my dreams! Death is the only mercy you will have!"

Bang!

He slammed his scepter against the ground and used a skill called "Current Blast"!

Terrifying damage numbers immediately popped above the cavalrymen’s head—

272818!

313477!

276673!

……

The skill killed all ten cavalrymen almost immediately. Even Hickey lost as much as 180k HP. This great magus was terrifyingly powerful!

Hickey cried through gritted teeth, "Don’t screw up the healing while I keep the boss busy, people! Cavalrymen, keep up the assault as we have discussed earlier! Archers, use Penetrating Arrows! It is the only way to pierce the boss's Magic Shield! Just do as I say and don’t hesitate!"

As the Sacred Oath players continued their assault, the furious Great Undead Magus Juve raised his scepter and shouted, "Look up to the thunder and tremble, mortals!"

Dark clouds covered the sky before shooting lightning bolts at the tiny humans below. It was yet another super AoE skill, Rolling Thunder!

BOOM BOOM BOOM!

The second group of cavalrymen were one-shot just like the previous one. Hickey stumbled backward with barely a sliver of HP until her priests healed her back to full. So far, it looked like she was the only one who could withstand the boss's attack.

While this was going on, arrows, Touches of the Dragonkiss, and more skills were raining on the boss and deleting his HP continuously. The boss was powerful, but the human wave attack was even greater!

……

My palm turned sweaty as the battle continued. Unless Hickey massively screwed up her tactics—which she absolutely hadn’t up until this point—Sacred Oath was going to steal the boss from right under my nose!

It was at this moment a group of players appeared from the east. The leader was the dwarven warrior I encountered some time ago. When he saw Sacred Oath, he immediately shouted, "Halt! Someone’s fighting the boss over there!"

My eyes lit up. It’s the Black Crow Tribe! This is going to be good!