I stood at the center of the narrow canyon path with the Ancient Divine Dragon behind me. I didn’t summon the Phantom Wolf King this time because I wasn’t going to fight anyway. The Ancient Divine Dragon was standing right behind me with its head bowed. All I needed to do was to jump backward, and I would be able to mount it if the situation called for it.

A troop of Beast King Cavalry was thundering its way toward me. I could even see fresh blood on the blade of their weapons. Obviously, it was the blood of the victims they had killed. Every Beast King Cavalryman was an expert in their own right, and it looked like they enjoyed murdering other players a lot. Unfortunately for them, they didn’t realize that they were soon to have a taste of their own medicine.

……

"There’s someone up ahead of us! I can’t see his level from here, but the emblem on his arm seems familiar… I think he’s the leader of Godkiller!" someone shouted.

"Doesn’t matter who he is, we’ll run him over and kill him where he stands! Godkiller is just a bunch of noobs that are all brawns and no brains anyway. There’s nothing they can do to us…"

The five thousand men laughed, unsheathed their blades and rode toward me. When they came close enough to spot my Ancient Divine Dragon, it was already too late.

Pa!

I pressed my palm to the ground and let out a growl. Golden seals and energy cyclones immediately appeared within 100 yards of me. Dust covered the sky, and the earth split like an earthquake. The next moment, countless earth dragons with sharp scales and terrifying expressions burst out of the ground and flew to the sky. Although the skill didn’t hurt anyone, the visual effects alone scared the crap out of the Beast King Cavalry. No one beside the Godkiller had witnessed the true power of the Sacred Armament until now!

"Now! Attack them now!" I shouted inside the guild channel.

Warscar and War Dead immediately rushed out from their hiding spots and slammed into the Beast King Cavalry’s sides. War Axe also rushed out and hit the enemy from behind. On the way, they whipped their Zephyr Ironbone Warhorses to full speed, unsheathed their weapons and activated Berserk with a mighty roar. A sheen of bloody light surrounded their bodies, enlarged their muscles and drastically increased their offensive power.

"Kill!"

Warscar roared and fired a cone-shaped AoE skill straight at the Beast King Cavalry in front of him, deleting around 40% of their HP and knocking them backward. The other Zephyr Cavalrymen followed his lead and struck the enemies in front of them with Barrier Breaks, killing hundreds before the patrol party could mount a proper response. The surprise attack had kicked off to a perfect start.

……

"Hold! Hold!” shouted a Cyan Beast corps commander, raising his sword. "Form a group before countercharging the enemies! Magic knights, move to the back, lock onto a suitable target and trap the enemy with Trapping Net so your allies can kill them! The Godkillers are just noobs! There’s nothing to be afraid of! Kill them all!"

The Beast King Cavalry’s training showed because they immediately regained their calm and launched a counterattack on both flanks. The magic knights also performed as ordered and threw their Trapping Nets at the incoming fighters. They scored a lot of hits, but not a single viking warrior was immobilized. Why? Because Berserk also gave them temporary immunity to all CC just like War God Rampage!

Crack! Crack!

The sounds of blade sinking into flesh and bone rang everywhere as the two forces officially entered melee combat. The corps commanders of the Viking Cavalry and the Beast King Cavalry kept galloping back and forth and killing as many enemies as they could.

……

"Boss, I don’t think we can hold this!" a Beast King Cavalryman looked to the only direction that wasn’t surrounded by vikings and suggested, "Let’s retreat in that direction! Their guild leader seems to be alone!"

The corps commander spat angrily, "Fine. Let’s go!"

Seeing that the Beast King Cavalry was about to mount a retreat, I immediately jumped onto my dragon’s back, unsheathed my sword and yelled, "Show them your power, Ancient Divine Dragon!"

Boom boom boom!

Dark clouds immediately surrounded the sky, and the next moment a storm of lightning and ice struck the ground in front of the Beast King Cavalry. The skill looked so terrifying that they immediately beat a hasty retreat.

Pu!

Just to make sure they didn’t get any second thought, I stabbed the Purple Ying Sword into the ground and activated Purple Dragon Howl. Then, I pulled my sword out and fired it at an empty space close to the Beast King Cavalry. The devastating energy blast shredded the ground like nothing and drilled a massive hole in it, frightening the cavalrymen even more.

……

"He… he’s not really going to attack us, is he? I recognize him now. He… he’s the guy who killed our guild leader, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, the Little Heavenly King of China! How did he become the guild leader of Godkiller? What on earth is going on?" one of the Beast King Cavalry stuttered while quaking in his boots.

The corps commander looked absolutely furious, but he dared not test my patience for fear that I would actually attack them from the back. He knew that the battle would end in less than half an hour if I did.

Had they had known about my bet with Hickey, they would’ve known that I wouldn’t lift a finger against them. My only purpose here was to unleash my ultimates, bluff them into thinking that escaping the battle was a bad idea, and distract them from the Viking Cavalry as much as possible. This way, Warscar could sweep them and win a battle he normally couldn’t have won!

……

The battle lasted 50 minutes. In the end, it was the Viking Cavalry who emerged as the victor. The corps commander of the Beast King Cavalry tried reviving, but Warscar and the vikings still ended his second wind with Barrier Break.

"Hah, hah, hah…"

Panting heavily and staring at the heaps of corpses on the ground, Warscar gave his bloodstained axe a swing and ordered, "Well done, people! You may pick up the equipment on the ground now, first come first serve! Also, keep an eye on these fuckers’ bodies and make sure that none of them revive. Motherfucker, this revenge has been a long time coming for sure!"

It wasn’t a clean victory. Only less than 500 Viking Cavalry were still standing after they had slewn all 5000 Beast King Cavalrymen—the rest were running over from the nearby graveyard and trying to revive. Still, it was an indisputable fact that the Viking Cavalry had gone against the Beast King Cavalry head-on and won.

After the battle was over, I flew up the hill and dismounted in front of Hickey. I smiled at her and said, "Well? Are you satisfied now? Welcome to Godkiller, Hickey!"

Hickey balled her right fist and stared at me. "Hmph! I should’ve known that you would try something like this to win. How cunning of you!"

I shrugged. "Duh? Warfare is all about tricks and deception. How else do you expect the vikings to beat 5000 elite Beast King Cavalrymen with their current level, equipment and skill disparity?"

"Sigh…"

Hickey let out a sigh. "A bet is a bet. I lost, so I and the elite players of Sacred Oath will join Godkiller. Hello, guild leader!"

I extended my hand toward her. Hickey smiled a bit before shaking it. "I will be loyal to the guild, but I must warn you that I will not sell out my conscience for anything. If you ever do something immoral and force me to serve an advocacy group or something, I will leave the guild."

I nodded. "Don’t worry, I am only loyal to my country. I will never serve an advocacy group. If I ever become such a person, feel free to leave me whenever you want."

"Mn."

Hickey nodded before saying, "I have one condition, however."

"Tell me!"

"Sacred Oath has a lot of high-level mounted players. Now that we’re a part of Godkiller, shouldn’t you give us some Zephyr Ironbone Warhorses as well? It’s not good to play favorites, right?"

I hesitated. "Hmm, I don’t know…"

Hickey curled her lips. "What do you mean you don’t know? I’ll be frank with you. My players won’t be happy when they hear about our merging with Godkiller. I may be the guild leader, but the guild doesn’t belong to me alone. I can’t just order them to move to Godkiller without a good reason."

I thought for a moment before answering, "Well, okay. I can only afford giving you 1000 Zephyr Ironbone Warhorses though. Is that okay?"

"1000?" Hickey blinked once before breaking into a wide grin. "Of course! I’m fine as long as our core players can all equip a Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse. So, when are we merging our two guilds?"

"Give me two hours. I need to log off and grab some food."

"Okay!"

……

I logged out of the game and ate together with Chaos Moon. After that, I immediately logged back into the game. To say that I was excited would be an understatement. I had successfully recruited both Warscar and Hickey, meaning that the most important step to conquering Iron Skull Wilderness was finally complete.

Swhoosh!

The moment I reappeared in Iron Skull Wilderness and crawled out of my tent, I immediately saw that I was surrounded by the players of Godkiller and Sacred Oath.

"Quiet down! The guild leader came back online," I heard Hickey saying.

I walked to the front. It was nighttime in the game, so a lot of players were raising their weapons to illuminate their surroundings. Of course, Heaven-grade weapons shone way brighter than the Dark Steel or Bronze–grade ones. My Purple Ying Sword especially shone like a literal moon in my hands.

I looked at Hickey and asked her, "Have you chosen the subguild leader who’s going to take over Sacred Oath?"

"Yep, my vice leader."

"Awesome."

I gave Warscar a nod before saying, "Let’s begin. Hickey, you can withdraw from your guild and join Godkiller now."

"Okay!"

Hickey did as I commanded, and the guild emblem of Sacred Oath on Hickey’s arm was replaced by Godkiller’s. I then made her a vice leader just like Warscar immediately. I was one hundred percent certain that Sacred Oath’s players would riot to hell and back if I didn’t elevate their goddess to a suitably high position.

The merging process took a while, but in the end almost 7000 Sacred Oath elites had joined Godkiller. I also handed Hickey 1000 Sealing Crystals with the Zephyr Ironbone Warhorses in them and let her handle the rest. To be honest, it hurt my soul to give away so many mounts for free. The reason I didn’t feel this way with the vikings was because they had their OP Berserk talent. The Zephyr Ironbone Warhorses couldn’t be wasted in their hands.

I checked my bag and noted that I still had around 30k Sealing Crystals in my bag. I looked forward to the day Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls’ main guild gained 30k Zephyr Cavalrymen.